Tuesday December 16 2008
I don't intend to comment on the current state of affairs in our country other than to say that my overriding reaction is one of utter shock and indeed anger.
Shock that such a thing could happen in these days of traceability, and anger that our whole agricultural industry -- including our reputation -- could be placed at indescribable risk by such action.
We have all been thrown into turmoil this past couple of weeks so much so that I must admit that I am finding this diary very hard to write. I just can't get my thoughts together.
However, I have to say that I admire all of our localDepartment of Agriculture staff who have worked practically around the clock and who have adopted a most understanding and friendly approach to farmers in general. They did their investigations efficiently and with the minimum of fuss, while at the same time recognising that none of this is our fault.
Thank God none of this whole sorry business affects us personally. Other than that, I had a load of cattle ready for sale, but these may now wait until after Christmas and until some order is restored to the agricultural industry in general.
Holding on to these cattle for the extra couple of weeks will pose some housing problems for us, insofar as we have planned for cattle coming in and cattle going out at specified times, but it cannot be helped in the circumstances and we will deal with it.
We have empty housing which can be used. It is a bit inconvenient because it is at the far end of the farm, and feed will have to be hauled there which is time consuming.
As we prepare now for the Christmas period and try to organise our work to give ourselves some free time, the roller is working flat out to build a small stock of rolled barley. The lads have given me their Christmas orders too as they also want to ensure that they have sufficient stocks on hand.
Having said this, the roller cost us a small fortune a few weeks ago when it broke down. However, this is the first time it has required major repair. The cost of the spare parts was considerable, but the cost of labour was astronomical and, to my mind, unsustainable.
When I first bought the corn roller some five years ago, the machine cost €13,000 and it will now cost €7,000 to repair. While we have no way of knowing exactly how the labour charges were billed, we worked it out roughly that if two men worked on the machine for two days then we were charged in excess of €115/hour.
Now, while I know that labour charges such as these have become the norm, it is a serious concern. Farmers cannot afford such labour charges and will return to fixing as much as possible themselves in an effort to curtail machinery costs on the farm.
Anyway, despite the huge cost of repairing the machine, I was glad to get it back into action within a couple of days.
Murphy's law applied here. The machine broke down at the worst possible time when the yard was full of cattle, but fortunately we had a couple of days' supply of rolled barley on hand. We feed 80pc of the ration in the form of rolled barley and wheat and so cannot be without this vital machine.
I took a walk out through the tillage fields a few days ago and was heartened to note that the late-sown wheat is doing very well indeed.
We changed our seed this year and are delighted to see the aggression of performance and development despite the difficult sowing conditions.
No spraying has been done as yet but, having said this, there doesn't appear to be a weed problem. However, we are keeping ahead with slug pellets because these little pests are capable of clearing all before them overnight unless halted.
Less than half of our tillage crop is actually sown at this stage. The weather has been terrible this year but the last few weeks of frost have certainly been welcome and are more akin to the winters of our memories.
Housed cattle are healthier in cold weather conditions and we all feel more uplifted when we can stay in the same set of clothes for a whole day without getting soaked. Let us hope that this cold weather is a forerunner to better conditions for the new year so that we can catch up on crop sowing.
Now, more than ever, it has been brought home to us the importance of using natural, home-grown products over which we, as farmers, have some measure of control.
Meantime, there is great excitement on the home front as our 11 grandchildren count down the days to Santa's arrival and, with great interest, inspect the Christmas tree and all the decorations on every visit. It really is a time for children and we are so privileged to be able to enjoy it a second time around.
- Oliver McDonnell
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