Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I can tell him there are very good suckler farmers in south and west Kerry and they pride themselves on farming and producing good weanlings.

Like everything, the source of the beef is the calf. If the calves are not going to be looked after, we are at a crossroads. I hear the vibes around the circuit that the suckler farmer is finding it very hard to continue and is very likely to cut down numbers or to get out of it altogether. I have no problem in telling the people on the eastern side of the country that the weanlings are coming from the west. They are coming into the mart of the Minister's town of Macroom and into Skibbereen, Kenmare, Milltown and Cahirciveen and that is where the drovers from up the country are getting their beef. If those fellows are not going to be looked after, they will disappear and it will be very hard to get them back because there is an awful lot involved in calving a cow and rearing the calf. Many farmers are experiencing challenges due to the volatility in the market, the difficulty in farming conditions, bad weather and losses. I am a suckler farmer myself. I bought a farm 25 years ago and in ten years I paid off the loan, but if I bought it today, I would not pay off the loan. With the cost of the land and what is being made from calves at present, it would be gone in a couple of years.

Some 35 or 36 years ago weanlings were making £700 to £750 but, today, they are making €700 to €750, so there is something wrong. That is the truth. Farmers need this €200 like they never needed it before. The cost of fertiliser and feed are going up every year but the price of the weanlings in the marts is not going up.

Something needs to be done to protect them and ensure that they continue because if we do not have the sucklers we will not have the beef down the line. Many of these farmers survive on very marginal farms and conditions. They pride themselves on the stock they produce.

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