organic farming

Iv'e seen conventional farmers at organic sales. If most of the stock remained within the organic system, there would no be a shortage. But the same is true of the Angus and Hereford schemes.

Is the proposed straw shortage next winter going to be a big problem for organic winter housing? Something like 25,000ha less tillage this year, and incentives too for chopping the straw should result in much less straw around

Few points.

Went in the Organic Scheme here in 2023.Nearly all sheep up to that and likely just sheep and small bit of tillage in the future.

No issue with dosing,vaccinations etc as I put all that into my health plan.I dosed my lambs as per usual as I would have being doing FEC tests all along anyways.Once the result shows a need to dose then its OK. Withdrawal is doubled but most worm doses are 7 to 10 days so unlikely to be selling a lamb within 3 weeks of doing them either ways so not a problem.Only thing not allowed is OP dip.Fluke dose ewes on vet recommendation.

I have no intention of even looking at organic selling.Lambs will be going to factory when fit and if organic lamb is being paid for then thats a bonus.

Sheep suit in that I only buy in stock rams and no requirement for these to be organic.I haven't seen any higher costs here anyways.

Issues are not allowed purchase non organic stock without derogation.Would have sometimes bought a bundle of ewes on the spur of the moment but thats out for now.Also no grazing off farm except on another organic holding so thats a bit of a pain but surmountable.Straw not an issue around here and allowed conventional straw as long as its for bedding not feeding.

Antibiotic use is allowed but double withdrawal as per dosing and think twice in a year loses that animals organic statues.Again not a problem as antibiotic usage in sheep is light and the end status isnt really an issue for me.

I think people are making problems where they dont exist at times.I would be the least "organic" type farmer you could meet to be fair.Keep a decent number of ewes ,enough to farm them full time to make a living.I am looking at this as a better paying Environmental 5 year scheme as its worth 17k plus a year to me whilst Acres would be less than 4k net.

Land here is fairly decent with all bar 1 field index 3 or 4.That plus availability of slurry covers fert .Then again sheep don't require big fert rate regardless.

One problem I see with Organic Scheme is that its being promoted,popular etc on more marginal land which is all fine and dandy if you have big area and small stock.The amount of dung produced on farm especially with sheep is unlikely to be enough.Plus sowing crops for grazing or feeding as grain is difficult enough in these areas.

I see Tom Stapleton, Sobac are going toe to toe with Supersoil. Advertorial also on Agriland. The team there must be getting very confused writing for both. Sobac seems to be mainly targeted at reducing artificial inputs for conventional farmers. There are a number of ways in reducing esp inorganic N. This seems to be one. Farmers should investigate all tools available.

A man after my own heart. Maybe it's my age, but we f****d up something that worked 40 years ago.

Yep - this scheme and the one targeting stubbles make zero sense on any level, least of all environmentally. I think the issues with organic here that some raise is mainly related to the very slow start to the sector here compared to most of the the rest of the EU, which means the organic supplies sector is also underdeveloped. This however should ease as more farmers join scheme and output of organic feed, stock etc. increases in the coming years.

Your last paragraph describes me perfectly.

Afraid I fall between both stools.Not terribly interested in the science or theory behind organics and have spend countless euro over the years on fert. ,meal to finish lambs .Not one field here has been missed as regards either ditch removal,reseeding ,draining or rock removal over the years.

My take on it is that the sort of money on offer is too good to miss out one .My one doubt is that the payment rate and sweeteners might be better if the uptake is poor in a year or two.

My job is not to feed the world,rather feed my family.

If they were ped reg you could get more than 1k for them at a lot less weight. Dx bullocks usually stand about 380 to 420 live at 30 months and there's a premium for them in Nenagh.

Nenagh would suit, have a few SH as well this year and a few DNX bullocks I know nenagh is doing a premium for SH is there any premium for DNX

From 300 kgs would it take long to get to 400 kgs.