‘The processors have added value to their products, but they haven’t passed the value back to suppliers’
Sean Connaughton has seen it all in dairying since building up his dairy herd from 10 cows in the 1980s to 110 today. He says the big co-ops need to start sharing more of their profits with farmers to secure the industry’s future
Despite living on the outskirts of Boyle, Co Roscommon, an area traditionally associated with suckler beef farming, Sean Connaughton and his wife Liz decided to set up a dairy herd in the mid-1980s.
They gradually expanded their herd and today they have 110 cows through a 10-unit double up milking parlour.
“The farm was handed over to me in 1986 and we changed over from livestock to dairy,” says Sean. “We started off milking 10 or 11 cows and rearing calves onto beef in 1986.
“When I left school, I worked for a neighbouring dairy farmer and I enjoyed it. I liked working with cows, it was steady and the routine appealed to me.”
When Sean first converted to dairy farming, there were several small dairy farms in the area with an average herd size of eight or nine cows and a quota of 5,000 gallons.
However, as regulations around dairies and milking parlours increased, smaller producers left dairying and went into part-time farming or sucklers.
With an ageing farming population, the issue of succession in Irish agriculture is a problem with 86pc of farmers not having a succession plan in place, according to IFAC.
However, this is not something the Connaughton family have to contend with as both their son Donal and grandson Glyn (14) are interested in farming.
The Connaughtons have a partnership with their son Donal, who returned to work on the family farm after two years working on a large dairy farm in Scotland.
However, both Donal and Sean argue strongly that they should be seeing greater income from dairy farming.
“It’s very satisfying for me and Liz to see Donal coming back to the farm. It’s positive he’s back but the industry isn’t returning what it should, we’re all putting up with less income than we’d like,” he says.
“Dairy farming is seen as being streets ahead of everyone else but it’s not that far ahead.
“According to the farm income figures, the average dairy farm is around 85-90 cows. The suckler income is quite low but the herd size is also quite low.”
According to his milk receipts, Sean is being paid the same price for milk in 2020 as he was in the mid-1990s. He labels this as a lack of respect for producers.
“I have official statistics going back to the mid-90s. The average price per litre back then when converted to euro was 29.5c/l. After 25 years, we’re still getting this price.
“We’re supplying Aurivo, a smallish co-op in the west of Ireland with a scattered supplier base. They often pay as good a price as larger co-ops.
“But they all should be paying a higher price. Farmers have invested hugely in co-ops, in drying facilities. It’s time they saw the returns.”
Donal believes that supermarkets also have a part to play when it comes to giving greater returns to farmers.
“My friends think I’m daft, staying up late working almost every night, working seven days a week in February, March and April. I like what I’m doing.
“I love making a good product but I’m doing it so I can get a good price. I’m not doing it just to create jobs for Aurivo,” says Donal.
Partnership:
Sean Connaughton and his wife Liz have made a success of their dairy farm in the heart of suckler beef country in Roscommon; (right) they now farm in partnership with their son Donal, while 14-year-old grandson Glyn also has a keen interest in farming.
“Supermarkets need to play a part. Things like own-branded milk are driving down the price of milk.
“There was a poll done in France a few years ago asking consumers if there was 10c added on to the price of milk who would they like to see get it — farmers, supermarkets or processor? Most of them said the farmer.”
Sean believes that as processors have been able to add more value to dairy products, farmers should see better profits.
“They have added value to their products, they’ve moved ahead of other industries like beef since the intervention, with the introduction of things like Bailey’s cream, yoghurt, cheeses etc. But this value hasn’t been passed back to suppliers.
“Sometimes milk goes up to 36 cents and there are headlines about dairy farmers making a fortune. But within a year it can drop down to 24c/l.
“The increase in volume is benefiting the consumer and the
processor but not the farmer. Consumers in Ireland and around Europe are conscious of food quality and are prepared to pay for what they see as quality.”
He also says that the percentage of income spent on food has decreased in recent years, but that this should be higher, especially considering the quality of Ireland’s produce.
“As a society we only pay 10pc of our income on food, but when I started it was closer to 30pc. If margins keep getting stretched, there’ll be nothing left in farming.
“We have great products. Irish butter is number one in Germany and two in North America. It’s a great product that shows people want to buy it,” he says.
“We’re the number one exporter of infant formula in the world. I remember someone said years ago that if we could start exporting infant formula we would be making money, but there’s no trickle-down effect, we’re not seeing any benefit from it — we need to see more of a return.”
‘As a society we only pay 10pc of our income on food, but when I started it was close to 30pc. If margins keep getting stretched, there’ll be nothing left in farming’