Exited Suckler Cows

Sounds like the exit didn't go well. Selling private is a pain, between lonely hearts ringing up with no interest in buying, lads that ring and say they'll be there at a time or date and then never turn up, not even a text to let you know not to expect them. Lads that want to take the stock and pay later!! it's just not worth it.

Good few empty farms about now, meadows been sold or given away for free. Not too many takers, as the cost of bales of unfertilised weed feed does not pay to make them. Suckler farming has become a real loss making exercise, when you factor in all the costs and hassle. Slurry, Bales, Fertiliser, sprays, maintenance of Tractor, sheds, fencing drains etc and then factor in angry suckler cows, stone mad calves. Then the piss poor prices for the average Weanling.

It's madness, which I think is gradually coming to an end.

Some hobby ,trying to work and calve cows .Sounds more like hell to me.

Having given up the sucklers a few years ago, I can sympathise. Don't think there's a single answer. For me, developing my interest in regenerative agriculture has given me a positive outcome. One can now keep the various payments on very low stocking, if that's what a person wishes to do. Remember too there are others who have followed the great advice and increased largely the dairy herd, also the debt and the workload and find it difficult now to unwind that threadmill.

The reality is the off farm jobs are what's keeping farmers going in a lot of cases, the sooner lads understand hobby farming does nothing only make young men old and cripples the better off they'll be. If you can earn a living without working farm, more power to you but it looks like the future is feed lots and a numbers game

There's no calf born on a feedlot.

Hence the numbers game

If the weanlings get scarce the shippers will disappear too and wait and see what the factory feed lot buyers will do with the price then.

What do you mean about the tide turning? Do you mean they will start to increase again or that they will decline further and die out?

Personally I can see Suckler numbers dropping further and quality is going to slip aswell for the majority. The move will be towards easier calving and more live calves at weaning is driving this. There will be a few exceptions to this, but in the main it's happening as we speak

Age profile is going to hit the sector aswell as. Most part time farmers with sucklers are dropping back a few every year, and moving towards Angus bulls

This biggest issue I can see is for the farmer suckler farmer in organics getting out of suckler cows or the dry stock farmer planning on going into organics. Organic stores are not there and are going to be hard got

I can never understand lads exiting that do not finish a good portion of the cows. It makes sense to do that. As well I think lads exiting should consider going into cull cows if there land is good enough. They would have the skillset to calve down incalf cull cows.

I agree with there being an issue for lads going into organics trying to source stock if they are not breeding. If I was going into organics I consider sheep rather than cattle as a drystock option. A good few hill farmers have opted for organics and most of there lambs are sold as conventional at present. I be inclined to look at those rather than a cattle based drystock system.

Yes as sucklers become more scarce there mat be more demand for there stock. However feedlots etc will still want there margin and that limits upside. The other risk is limitations on exports over the next few years.

All in all lads that were waiting for an exit scheme that IFA and the FJ scuppered are now grasping the nettle and exiting. It will continue for another while. Traditionally there used to ve 4-500k suckler cows in the country we will probably head back to that

Getting out of suckers to go calving cull cows or sheep? Sideways hardship step at best.

It’s like any system, they have have their advantages. The primary advantage of suckers to me is the maintenance of a closed herd limiting exposure to TB.

That's the general principal i'm working off of myself, scarcity will yield a better price.

At present there is'nt enough of a margin to produce U grade stock, dairy stock have access to an AA topup and when all is said and done a U grade is not making much more pre Kg than an R/O grade.

The market for U grade weanlings/forward stores is decreasing year on year, no one wants to buy them unless they get them for a song.

Suckler cow numbers back to 1991 here.

2018-The-Economic-and-Societal-Importance-of-the-Irish-Suckler-Beef-Sector-Aug-2018.pdf (ifa.ie)