Contract-rearing pivot for former sheep farmer
File Operates Istock Liam Calls 'glorified He Grazing Picture: Summer A What System'
Liam Cassin, a Kilkenny farmer who has been contract-rearing for the past 14 years, joined Catherine Egan on a recent edition of the Teagasc Beef Edge podcast. He had been a sheep farmer, but changed sectors after his flock was wiped out by scrapie.
“Kind of by accident, I fell into contract-rearing about 2010 or thereabouts. I started off with some sucklers on contract rearing and, eventually, I reduced the suckler herd I had. I had it built up to close on 30 cows at the time, and then I went all contract-rearing,” Liam explained.
Financial considerations were key to Liam’s decision.
“It was the only system I could get into where I didn’t have to put a big outlay of money. I could get into stock straight away without having to go to the bank looking for money, or without having to use my own money to get into it,” he explained.
Steady income was another incentive, he said: “If I started on the first of January, let’s say I took stock in the first of January, the first of February I was getting money back from those stock.
Liam began contract-farming after responding to an advert in a farming newspaper. His first contract was with a farmer from Gort in Galway, around 150km away.
“I had calves the first year. They were out-wintered actually, the first year. I had no sheds. I don’t have any sheds on the farm. I have about 30 to 31 hectares here. It’s all grass,” Liam explained.
“The second year I was at it, I actually had two batches of stock from that man”, he said.
He has varied his approach to contract-rearing during the 14 intervening years, he said: “I started with one man, and last year, I was contract-rearing for four different dairy farmers, with four different groups of cattle going around, with four separate blocks of land within my farm of land.
“I have 10 fields. There’s 30-and-a-half hectares. I have 30 paddocks, but I can divide each in half [if needed].
I kind of settled now this year. I’m not keeping any stock for the winter. I’m just doing what I call a glorified summer grazing system, where I’m taking in stock probably in January or February, depending on ground conditions. I have a really dry farm.”
Liam has developed good relationships with the farmers with whom he is cooperating, and there is a clear agreement regarding who covers which costs.
Liam looks after the veterinary costs on his farm, whereas some other contract rearers ask the dairy farmer to cover those costs. Vaccine purchases are the responsibility of the dairy farmer, but are administered by Liam.
The cost of any concentrates fed are covered by Liam, but are reflected in his charges for rearing.
He said: “At the moment, I have four farmers. I have an agreement with one farmer, and the rest of it is word of mouth, gentlemen’s agreement. I look after the cattle that I have as if they were my own.”
