While the number of suckler cows continue to contract in the country, prices are moving in the opposite direction with the weanling trade hitting new highs again this week.

Logging in to any online mart this week and you would have witnessed top end weanlings hitting €5.50/kg on several occasions. Top end weanlings were just about hitting €4.50/kg this time last year, a €400/head increase in 12 months. It’s given the sector a much needed boost having been on the back foot compared with other farming sectors in recent years. There are still challenges with the latest hurdle for the industry to cross being the row between ICBF and pedigree breed societies.

Exit

On page 44 and 45, we profile a farm walk on the Duggan family farm in Portlaw in Co Waterford that took place last week. The Duggans have made the difficult decision to exit suckling on the back of family health issues and John spoke very openly about the decision and how hard it was.

The Teagasc team present on the day gave a great overview of nutrient use on the farm including an insightful look at nutrition from Bretts nutritionist Michael Foley.

We travel further afield for our next feature of a farming family in San Antonio, Texas where the Speer family own and run a livestock market. They gave a great overview of where suckling and the beef industry is at in the USA with the future looking positive for US beef farmers.

Finally we take a look at the results of our farmers survey on the issues with ICBF.

The 336 farmers who responded are a 50:50 split of commercial and commercial pedigree suckler farmers with many having big issues with the way the indexes are calculated. We carry the results of the survey this week with the farmer reaction being profiled in next week’s paper.