Best cattle farmers earn double the average income
How the best farmers do it was outlined by Bernard Smyth, Chief Beef Adviser with Teagasc at a nationwide series of advice meetings with beef farmers.
He said farmers in Teagasc’s intensive beef advisory programme averaged €517 per hectare (€207 per acre) last year.
This compares with an average of €266 per hectare (€106 per acre) for all beef farmers.
“The top performing farmers in the Teagasc programme achieved an income of €742 per hectare, or almost €300 per acre. This highlights the potential to increase income from beef farming,” he said.
Mr Smyth said the key areas for achieving the higher incomes are breeding, performance and cost control. Farmers on the highest income level have lower fixed costs, and are producing very high levels of beef from well-managed grass.
“There is a difference of at least 100 kg in beef liveweight gain per hectare between farmers who made an income of €750 per hectare in 2001 and those who made €500 per hectare”.
“The top performers also produced higher quality beef. Their fixed costs were as much as €250 per hectare lower,” he said.
Mr Smyth said the Teagasc income target in beef farming is €600 per hectare. For farmers involved in suckler systems, this requires retaining 90% of all premia as profit.
“For those involved in producing beef from weanlings or stores, between 60% and 70% of all premia would need to be retained as profit”, he said.
