The significance of a carrot
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There has been much discussion over the last few years surrounding the use of the “carrot and stick approach” towards getting farmers to reduce emissions and improve water quality.
The EU went straight for the stick approach when they reduced the Irish nitrates derogation to 220kg, and while some Irish politicians who want livestock numbers reduced have suggested Irish farmers could diversify and even switch to growing vegetables, a recent trip to the supermarket reminded me that the carrot approach is not really an option either.
As I picked up a bag of carrots, I noticed the country of origin was Kenya of all places. I was absolutely astounded that in the month of September, the carrots on the shelf had been shipped from afar. The reality is with a reduction in Nitrates derogation, competition has spiralled, driving rental costs even higher. Vegetable farmers are also losing land to solar farms, and all that, combined with low retail prices, has simply forced them out of business.
I could write for hours about the need for higher retail prices, but I, too, like many of my readers, am also a consumer; I simply need my grocery bill to be as low as possible as the cost of living in Ireland is so high.
My carrot debacle also answers another question which is often raised by the anti-dairy brigade in Ireland; they continuously give out about low-cost Irish dairy powders being shipped to African countries and claiming it places immense financial pressure on dairy producers in those countries, when the reality is Ireland is suited to producing lower cost dairy due to our highly grass-based system. We are a country that could access finance and afford to invest in costly dairy processing infrastructure such as driers to create milk powder.
Kenya, for example, has a predominantly liquid milk dairy industry; their processors can’t afford to invest in driers, milk on the supermarket shelf is often priced higher than in Ireland, for those living on a wage of $1 a day, they simply can’t afford milk in a carton and need a cheaper alternative such as milk powder.
The climate in the Rift Valley of Kenya is ideally suited to growing carrots and turnips; their warmer temperatures and ideal soil conditions, together with cheap labour costs, mean they can grow vegetables a lot cheaper than we can.
Farm life also came up smelling of roses this week as Papoose calved; she is a two-year-old heifer, which we showed last year, she only had a few outings, but she stood in first place on three occasions, we took her to the National Dairy Show as an education for her to let her see a show ring with a big atmosphere and learn to live away from home for a few days on a show string, she was placed a credible fifth which we were delighted with as the heifers ahead of her were older and bigger.
Papoose is a Chief-sired heifer, and very similar to our other Chief heifer named JayZ. She had a lovely heifer calf sired by Crushable, which will be a nice addition to next year's show team, hopefully.
Papoose didn’t forget her job on the halter and seems very content on it everyday now, it is always a pleasure to be able to walk out into a paddock and catch a heifer on a halter. All our entries are now submitted for this year's National Dairy Show, so the workload will ramp up now prepping the team, the one peace of mind we have is that the team gets stronger every year, so it is simply a case of staying focused on the cow families we have and how we breed them every year.
We also took a few hours break this week to watch the UK Dairy Day livestream and I have to say the standard of cows showing there this year was truly outstanding. It was nice to watch Becky showing at such a fantastic show, a tiring three days there working with a show string, Lamborgini, the heifer she showed last year at the ABAB calf show, claimed first place in the Junior R/W Holstein class.
Becky showed a senior heifer, which finished a credible sixth; another cow she worked with claimed third place, and they also won the best-presented cattle line at the show. Seeing how she works as part of a team at shows and the pride she takes in how well the cattle line is managed at a show, along with how well the cows are looked after, makes me so proud of what she is achieving.
With all roads leading to the National Ploughing Championships this week, we are giving it a skip as we have a bigger adventure ahead of us as we head to Stafford in the UK for the All Breeds, All Britain calf show, it is a new venue this year as last year it was held in Stoneleigh Park but Stafford is easily accessible, and just a one hour train ride up from Birmingham airport with the showgrounds being a ten-minute car ride from the town.
The ABAB calf show is without the best of the best: two days of top-class showing, showmanship classes are held on the Saturday with heifers competing on Sunday, the show rings are big, the atmosphere is electric, and the lineups in every class are long.
Simply showing there is an achievement, and if you can find yourself in the rosettes, you are doing extremely well. I can’t believe it has been a year since the girls showed there.
I always tell the girls that when you get to a show of that level, you simply show to the best of your ability, don’t worry about the rosette or result, stay cool and focus on your own heifer. Georgie knows what it is like to show a champion there and looking back, it was that coolness on the halter that helped her take Ravina to the top, the duo simply showed together. Hopefully, the 2024 ABAB calf show will bring some new memories.
