Mr. Pearse Kelly:

The BETTER farm beef programme was mentioned, It was covered by Dr. O'Mara. With the programme, we see a range of beef systems. This goes back to some of the issues mentioned by other members, including Senator Paul Daly, regarding which systems are the most profitable, etc. The system under the most pressure - it is used more commonly in the western part of the country - is where suckler cow farmers are rearing weanlings up to seven or eight months and then selling those calves to finishers in neighbouring areas or other parts of the country. There is a big cost in keeping that suckler cow and the value of the calf, or the lack of value, can often have a big impact on profitability. With the likes of the BETTER farm beef programme in the past few years and profit monitor results, we have seen that those farmers with the ability to take on those animals for a little longer and perhaps finish them are more profitable. A high proportion of suckler cow farmers are in a system where they sell calves at a young age. This can be down to land type and the availability of labour and housing on the farm. Dr. O'Mara has shown a graph demonstrating a big increase in profitability, much of which arises from a change of system on a farm to a more integrated process all the way through.

Deputy Cahill asked about live exports and the attractiveness of male crossbred calves from the dairy herd. They only have a certain value. Research from Teagasc in the past ten years has demonstrated that if we compare the Jersey crossbred male calves with Holstein Friesian crossbred male calves, they are worth in the region of €100 per head less in terms of profitability than if the farmer was to hold on to them to finish them. It is a challenge. If the Holstein Friesian bull calf is only worth €40 or €50 in terms of profitability in the market and the others are worth €100 less, the sums do not add up. Veal units on the Continent have the same figures. There is large availability of Holstein Friesian bull calves. Not all of our Friesian male calves are exported and there is a selection that would not be suitable.

Deputy Cahill referred to knowledge transfer and asked if farmers were only interested in the schemes. That is not our experience. Within Teagasc we are operating 300 knowledge transfer discussion groups, in which a little over 5,000 farmers are involved. The previous scheme, the beef technology adoption programme, BTAP, ran for three years. At this stage the majority of the farmers have been in discussion groups for a little over six years within which we have seen significant progress in the level of technology uptake by a significant proportion of farms. We have seen the level of uptake within groups in our profit monitor results. It is a select group of farmers who are first Teagasc clients and then in knowledge transfer discussion groups. That is probably where we are seeing more progress than in national average figures from the national farm survey.

Senator Lombard mentioned contract heifer rearing, an issue also covered by Dr. O'Mara. There is an attractiveness about it, but with respect to profitability, we are only starting to see farmers getting involved in these systems. Our initial analysis is that where farmers become involved in contract heifer rearing to a high level of efficiency, there are similar enough incomes where suckler cow or dairy calf to beef rearing is engaged in to a high level of efficiency. If we are to compare the systems, including contract heifer rearing and dairy calf to beef or suckler cow rearing, we must really compare them at a high level of efficiency. There is similar enough income at the high levels of efficiency.

Deputy Eugene Murphy asked if there was a need for extra support for suckler beef farmers. There are schemes such as the beef data and genomics programme which are worth quite a lot of money to farmers and where there has been a big uptake, but of the approximately 65,000 suckler cow farmers in the country, fewer than half have taken it up. As an advisory service, we pushed both clients and non-clients strongly to take up the programme. The Government also launched a pilot beef efficiency improvement programme, the beef environmental efficiency pilot scheme, which we also encouraged farmers to take up. It is worth €40 per cow and farmers have to weigh the cow and calf to get it. It remains to be seen whether the full funding will be taken up. Only a percentage of beef farmers have taken it up. It is important that when schemes or such support is available for suckler cow farmers, that they be taken up. Efficiency is built into them as a certain amount of work must be done by the suckler cow farmer, but it is important that they be taken up.