SilverWood Ireland

  From time to time, I’ll be featuring people from the world of farming and food projects who I think you’ll find interesting… I certainly do!  For this post, I was happy to talk to Padraig Moran, a farmer from Borrisokane, Tipperary.  Padraig raises sheep and suckler cows on his REPS demonstration farm.  He runs educational tours for TY and agricultural students, and he’s also a bit of a local pioneer in direct selling.

LdS. Welcome Padraig.   Tell us a little about yourself- how long have you been farming, and have you always produced lamb and beef?

PM  I have been farming since I was 16, leaving school to work on the home farm with my parents. School was not my thing and I have always been passionate about farming and agriculture, never wanting to do anything else. On the home farm we were very much mixed farming producing milk, beef,malting barley,turnips for store sheep,sugar beet and a few drills of potatoes. When I inherited my own farm I started out producing calf to beef, later moving to Sucklers and sheep.

LdS   Can you tell us a bit about the breeds of sheep you work with?

PM  The main breed of ewe on the farm is Belclare crosses, which I breed myself. They are very prolific and good mothers. I put Charolais rams on these, as well as crossing some of them back to Belclare for replacements.
 I really like the Charolais,  they are a very hardy lamb, get up and suck their mothers. They also have excellent conformation and finish quickly.

LdS  So when did you start selling your lamb direct? And what made you decide to give it a go?

PM   I started selling lambs direct 3 years ago.  The decision to sell direct came about because of the poor prices been received from the factories for lambs and new ways to improve returns had to be looked at.

LdS  How have you been advertising the lamb up till now?

PM . I advertise on the local paper "The Nenagh Guardian" and word of mouth worked very well.  I have just launched a new website for the farm and Coorevin lamb has a section on that too.

LdS   Was it slow to get the direct sale going, or did customers come along fairly quickly?

PM  Direct selling went very well from the start, customers firstly loved the taste of the lamb and secondly the value they were getting in buying direct.

LdS   The customers get great value, how about yourself? How much more do you make out of it?

PM   Customers are getting good value and also they know where the meat is coming from. If it isnt right they won’t be repeat customers. And yes, there is a bigger margin for me the producer as I'm leaving out the middle man and adding value to what I produce. The margin is around €30 per lamb.

LdS   Do you plan to expand into selling the beef direct too?

PM   No plans as yet to sell beef direct but maybe in the future.

LdS  I’ll keep my fingers crossed for that!  There is a lot more optimism in farming at the moment... how do you think things are going to go?

PM. Its about time that there is a return of optimism to farming. During the celtic tiger we were a waste of space, we were to sell sites or sell the farm because we werent needed.  With growing populations food is in short supply. also water is going to be to big issue going forward which will restrict food growing in some parts of the world. That gives us an added advantage over alot of countries.   I believe there is going to be a very good future for agriculture going forward.

LdS  Good enough for your sons to stay in farming?

PM  Yes, both of my sons very much followed the agriculture route.   Ronan is employed with Arrabawn co-op.  He started with them after graduating from GMIT.   Eoin completed two years in Gurteen college and is now working full time with local farmers.

LdS   Bord Bia are putting most of their emphasis on export for the future... what do you think about that?

PM  We certainly need to have a vibrant export market because we wouldn't be able to consume all the food we produce here in Ireland.  I think we export 80% of what we produce.  Of course they should also be keeping an eye on the home market as well and also looking at the whole area of labelling because it’s misleading the way some products are labelled.

Thanks Padraig.  Well, if you’re worried about labelling then you can’t do better than buy straight from a producer you know and trust!  As Padraig mentioned, he now has a great new website, and you can order some excellent lamb there.  You’ll also find details of other activities on the farm, including tours and some very unusual conference facilities.  Take a look on www.coorevinfarm.com

  I got a query this week from a woman who's just got some goats... lucky lady!  Goats really are among the nicest animals on the planet, and I must say I'm missing mine (she's on an extended holiday... more of that later).
  Now, with these newly acquired goats, everything is working out fine, they're healthy and happy and seem to like the chickens... all good so far.  But, they came without tags or papers, and the woman in question isn't sure how to get a herd number, or whether she has to.

  So, the short answer is YES.  If you want to keep cattle, sheep, goats or pigs and use the meat, sell the milk or sell off surplus young, you MUST have a herd number.  You also need a flock number for poultry, if you have more than 50 birds.  This is a good thing, because it's all about traceability, helping to prevent disease in animals and, sometimes, humans. It also allows the local vetrinary department to keep track of animals, and make certain that they are being kept in suitable conditions.  It is illegal to buy or sell livestock without a herd number, you cannot sell meat or milk from an untagged animal, and no butcher will touch an untagged animal- they would lose their license if they did.  

  Goats are a tricky one, as it is only fairly recently (within the last 3 years) that they have had to be tagged, so people are used to being able to trade them as pets.  There is also still a scattered population of wild goats.  So while things are very clear-cut with cattle and sheep, goats are a bit of a grey area.

  I came upon this myself last year, as I moved house (having worked on a farm) and brought my goats with me.  I duly applied for a herd number, but when the inspector showed up he was very sorry, but he couldn't give me one as I didn't have enough land.  You need more than an acre to qualify.  There was, however, no mention of me getting rid of the goats... the inspector just went away and left me to it.  They were now, essentially, pets.

  That was all fine, until September came.  I had parted with one nanny at that stage, but couldn't be without dear old Roux, who is one of my best friends.  But in September, she started coming on heat and INSISTED that we do something about it!  Now, I have a dilemma.  Roux has gone on an extended 'dirty weekend' with the local Billy, but how can I take her back with kids on the way?  I can't sell the milk, or the kids, or use the kids for meat.  So for now, the honeymoon continues until I can find a solution!

  So what ARE the criteria for getting a herd number.  Well first, you'll need a 'recognised holding', and that will need to be more than an acre.  You'll also need to show that you have separate housing and facilities from neighbouring herds. You can download the full list of requirements below.  You will need to provide deeds to a holding that you own, or a leasing agreement if you're renting.

  If you fulfill the criteria, you need to fill in a form ER1, which you can find HERE  The form is very simple, and you just send it in to your local District Veterinary Officer... you'll find a list of them on the same link. You'll then get a visit from the inspector, which is very simple too, and after that they'll send you your number and books of movement papers with instructions.  You will need to fill in these papers if you move an animal off your holding, either to another farm or to the butcher... it's just a couple of lines.  

   And that's it.  It's free of charge too.  All added up, it's only about an hours work and you'll be free to relax and enjoy the company of your wonderful animals :)