No quitten we're whelan on to chitchat 11

If everyone was average we'd all be walking on less than two legs.

Averages mean nothing, not everyone concentrated on maximising subsidie

My subsidies peaked at €900/ ha, my tillage subsidy was less than half that. €350/ha comes to mind

Clear test thankfully. I can relax again for the time being although we got a letter from DAFM saying another neighbour in the area has gone down. I was talking to yet another neighbour and he reckons that we all might be facing more regular testing cause three farms in the locality have had positive tests.

The old area aid was 150/acre which is 375/ha which is the max it could be unless he stacked entitlements or kept cattle

THAT'S what I thought, it was their ability to sow vast acreages that accrued the big payments. not their high entitlemments.

And they work hard for every bit of it

"Horns belong to the cow; they are an essential part of the animal. Studies show that they are important not only for communication within the herd, but also for physical heat balance, digestion, and metabolism".

I presume debudding is OK

Polled genetics will get a serious lift if that goes through.

It won't go through. Health and safety trumps everything.

Maybe they should pay a bit of attention to kosher shechita and halal while they're at it.

They just leak stuff like this so that when regulations get stricter we'll be glad they didn't go full hog.

It reminds me.

A neighbour got into bad health a few years back, he had a dozen lm heifers with horns, very quiet but one boss that used to lead the herd.

One day bossy lm broke one horn in the middle of summer, vet said skull her. So we did just her and let them out, smallest one immediately spent the rest of the day walking after her and pucking her in the arse.

Of course it isn't going to happen, but I see it as a dangerous game being facilitated through the agri-media here, attempting to create anti-EU sentiment in farmers, its like something you'd see in GB news.

It's a well known requirement of biodynamics anyway which is a particularly niche/left field discipline.

I'd be inclined to agree with you although did we begin to see the cracks starting to appear with regard to the nature restoration debate last week? The level of bullsh*t from Europe has gone to extremist levels.

Anybody know of any "no till" methods of sowing wild flower seeds? Preferably native, one half of the lawn isnt hectic so i was thinking of giving it up for the bees this summer. Its mossy light and bare in parts we have a pack of seeds here but it requires cultivating i was hoping for ones that just need broadcasting (yes the lazy way i know)

While I understand the concerns you raise re the fishery sell off, it's not directly relevent to the false narratives in the media which I find disturbing.

But on the fishery vs ag issue, I would say there was at least an order of magnitude if difference in the number of citizens involved in those industries, and we weren't in as strong a position to develop out fishing industry.

The forestry obviously never took hold here in a serious way apart from a few pockets of poor hill land, and we're certainly not a major EU player in timber production.

The EEC brought unprecedented prosperity to rural Ireland,if anything it is a shame and a lost opportunity that we haven't embraced and integrated more. Our linguistic colonial legacy has been a double edged sword and we're very much over influenced by the other major english speaking nations ... imho!

The EPP party of Copa Cogeca fame is currently stopping proposals to protect small artisanal fishermen from here and other EU countries by getting them a fare share of EU fish quotas from the foreign factory ships currently raping Irish waters. They also oppose protecting these waters from destructive bottom trawling with heavy nets miles long by these same factory ships. The majority of farmers should be very wary getting into to bed with that crowd....

PS: Lets not forget Brexit and how that has worked out for British Farmers and Fishermen

Yes, and in our area you barely get the weather to cut the corn , you'd never get the straw if you didn't have the crop sprayed with glyphosphate before harvesting,

The sad fact is that every sector is lobbying now and the noisy child gets fed first, if you're not stating your case you'll get nothing and it's the way the powers that be have made us.

After last years milk prices, dairy farmers telling tillage farmers they're getting too much money shouldn't be taken seriously