Farming News Premium Agri-Food Strategy: Ireland to follow Kiwi lead with 10pc drop in methane by 2030
Dairy Premium Gillian O'Sullivan: Agri-food industry pays lip service to sustainability while creaming off the fat of the land
Farming Premium Keeping it in the family: the inheritance tax relief that can save farmers up to €100,000
Beef Farm Profiles Premium See inside this beef farmer’s state of the art cattle shed Making life easier for himself was the key motivation behind Mike Kenny's decision to invest in a state-of-the-art cattle shed.
Farming Premium Eamon O’Connell: If a cow is ‘looking at you funny’ there’s a chance it could be something serious The heavy workload of spring has begun to get more manageable over the past week or so. Routine work in our veterinary practice is starting to take over from the manic fire-brigade-type calls you get with peak calving.
Gallery Dairy Pedigree Premium ‘It’s insane what some farmers are putting into dairy expansion – I can’t see any logic in it’ Neil Short has strong and considered views on the scale of spending some farmers have invested in dairy expansion.
Gallery Dairy Advice Premium Peter Hynes: Why genetic gain is the most efficient way to boost dairy profits Cork escaped the worst of the cold snap, although we had a northerly wind over Easter weekend which definitely had an impact on grass growth so we delayed closing ground for silage to ensure cows can stay grazing.
Tillage Dermot Forristal: Make precision spraying priority your plant protection priority Spraying plant protection products (fungicides, insecticides and herbicides) is a critical operation on most crop producing farms.
Tillage Helen Harris: The crops have emerged from winter in better condition than 2020 as the products do their job Our crops came out of the winter in relatively good shape. There were plenty of wet patches that looked bald, but the crops in general, did a lot better than last winter, when we had to replant half of them.
Tillage PJ Phelan: Herbicide spraying strategy needs to be simple and smart Chemical weed control revolutionised cereal production. Nature hit back with the development of resistance by a small number of weeds to our commonly used herbicides.
Agri-Business Premium Gallery Weaving magic: how this farmer literally branched out into traditional craft
Gallery Cattle Mart Trade Premium Heavier bullocks holding sway at the marts as frosty spell cools the trade With considerably bigger numbers now coming on stream, and concerns about cold weather slowing grass growth, the bullock trade cooled slightly last week, but heifers recovered most of the ground lost the previous week.
Beef Trade Premium Factories on the back foot as strong demand sees beef prices breach €4/kg mark Twelve months ago, the factory trade bottomed this week at €3.40/kg as the industry attempted to come to terms with the first of the international Covid lockdowns.
Gallery Sheep Trade Premium Sheep quotes soar by 10-30c/kg across the board as consumer demand keeps growing There are times when I wonder if some people in life missed their calling. I mention this in relation to a reply I got to a text message I sent to a procurement officer of a prominent sheep factory at the weekend enquiring how the sheep trade was.
Sheep Trade Premium Further boost to sheep trade as new export demand for ewes emerges The emergence of an export trade for ewes has added fuel to an already ‘on fire’ trade for sheep.
Gallery Finance Premium How maximising succession incentives delivered €106,000 in benefits for one dairy farm Farm succession happens later rather than sooner in many farm family situations and this probably accounts for the fact that the average farmer is nearly 60 years of age.
Gallery Finance Premium Mike Brady: 'Tax incentives have reformed land leasing - here are 5 tips to help both tenant and landlord strike a fair deal' Long-term leasing of land has seen a surge in popularity in recent years. The old conacre system (10-month lettings) is quickly going out of fashion in favour of 5, 7, 10, 15 even 20-year land leases.
Finance Premium Farming finance: How farmers can use limited company status to reduce land deal repayments
Finance ‘Farm Assist is so complex – it's surprising any farmer can get the claim right’ - Department of Social Protection chief
Gallery Farm Property West Cork land market heats up as buyers move quickly to close deals Glounaglough at Rylane near Macroom in Co Cork is surely a first cousin of the more famous Glendalough in Wicklow and perhaps also refers to a glen with two lakes.
Gallery Farm Property Premium No shortage of buyers for small to medium-sized farms The land market continues to be dominated by the sale of small to middle-sized farms and, while less land is finding its way to the auctioneers’ books, there is no shortage of buyers.
Gallery Farm Property Lakeside holding with great views and plenty of potential Lakeside properties often command a premium, thanks to the landscape, the view and the soothing sound of water lapping the shore.
Gallery Farm Property Compact farms from €5,000/ac in the south-east Two compact holdings in the south-east are coming to auction before the end of the month in sales handled by David Quinn of Quinn Property.
Gallery Ulster Farm Sales Forestry and grazing land parcels from €25,000 in east Cavan Bailieborough auctioneer Peter Murtagh is handling the sale of a selection of farms in east Cavan totalling about 139ac. The residential and non-residential properties are suitable for grazing, and three of the parcels suitable for forestry already have technical approval.
Gallery Farm Property Private treaty and online sales continue to deliver strong prices nationwide Sales by private treaty and online are continuing apace despite the lockdown.
Comment Premium Don’t be afraid to ask for help Since the turn of the year in my work as a GP I have seen an upswing in patients presenting with symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Rural Life Premium ‘I shed three stone and got fitter’ – The fitness revolution that is empowering farmers to take control of their health ‘It absolutely changed my life,” says 75-year-old Seán Egan of Fit Farmers, a novel health promoting intervention in Roscommon, designed and run by a nurse to improve the well-being of her local farming community. In her 21-year nursing career, farmer’s daughter Laura Tully — currently based at Athlone Institute of Technology — noticed that farmers often overlooked the most important aspect of farming — themselves.
Politics Premium My Week: ‘Losing my Dáil seat was like having a big rucksack removed from my back after 21 years’ Andrew Doyle has had a year to reflect on the result of the 2020 General Election and has immersed himself in work at the family farm in Roundwood since losing his Dáil seat.
Dairy Advice Peter Hynes: Running the farm and running the roads has eased the toll of lockdown Well January certainly was a quick month and now that we are into February it feels like we are a big step closer to exiting lockdown.
Comment John Connell Opinion A wonderous thing to find my little house on the prairie under the manure pile The other morning after returning from looking at our rare-breed English longhorn cattle, I dipped my head into the sheep shed to find one of the ewes laid out with two small legs emerged from her cervix. Kneeling down, I grabbed the lamb’s legs with my left hand and pulled him into the world.
Dairy Farm Profiles Premium ‘Farming is a form of therapy — the surgeons can’t believe I have the energy to go farming’ Rather than investing huge amounts of money on infrastructure and cows when he converted from beef to dairy, Daire Harlin spent just €25,000 when he set up his new dairy enterprise milking just 40 cows on 20 acres.
Farming Premium Darragh McCullough: Potshot objections from groups like An Taisce cannot be allowed to derail our world-class dairy sector
Legal Advice Premium A minor accident with the farm jeep and trailer looks set to escalate into a very expensive claim –what are our options?
Premium All night parties and dogs worrying my sheep – how a neighbour’s right of way has turned into a disaster for me
Beef Advice Premium Eamon O’Connell: How to avoid the problems that affect bought-in calves There are some days in the spring where everything goes right.
Advice Premium Eamon O’Connell: How to deal with common problems at lambing time As I drove slowly through the snow last Thursday night, I realised that there are a lot worse calls to be going to than a ewe lambing.
Dairy Advice Premium Eamon O’Connell: How to look after newborn calves to ensure you end up with healthy, profitable cows Here we go again. The quietest Christmas that most can remember has passed and we are on the run-in to calving season. It’s about to get an awful lot busier on most dairy farms in the next two weeks or so.
Dairy Advice Eamon O’Connell: When it comes to New Year’s resolutions for your farm, start small and be realistic I, like most people, make New Year’s resolutions with the best of intentions. I’m definitely going to stay off chocolate this year and cut back on the amount of coffee I drink.
