Kevin Moran follows through in his farming dream
That’s the result of fewer and fewer young people choosing a life as a farmer.
To be fair it’s difficult to question their decision not to choose farming as their future career. The long working hours; the dangerous nature of the work; often challenging weather conditions; low incomes; uncertainty of prices and markets; and dependability on EU and Government payments, have made it an unpopular career choice for many.
Some say that the lack of available land, and the slowness of older farmers to retire, are also to blame.
However, when the chance arose for Kevin Moran to lease his uncle’s farm in Co Mayo, it was an opportunity he wasn’t going to let pass.
Now the 21-year-old dairy farmer is the current Teagasc/FBD student of the year.
Kevin always wanted to be a farmer: “Farming is either in you or it isn’t,” he says.
Kevin took the farm on a longterm lease and, in January 2013, he started milking 72 cows. He is now milking 100 cows, stocked at 2.6 livestock units per hectare.
Getting started was “hectic”, he says. “I was finishing college and buying cows to build the herd.”
Kevin didn’t have to purchase a milk quota; it was in place on the land. He did have the expense though of putting together a herd; he had to “demonstrate determination” to the banks in order to get loans. Profitability was the key thing that made Kevin choose dairy farming.
His cows are all spring calving, beginning from early February in order to match the production graph with the grass growth graph. He says he is stocked at the max at the moment and has no plans for expansion. “Land availability at the moment is a problem,” he says. Instead, he is focusing on improving efficiency.
Kevin places a big emphasis on soil fertility and grassland management. “I was reading that grass is the cheapest feed, and during my college work experience with Timmy Quinn, I saw first hand its benefits.”
Kevin also uses profit monitor services, which points out the strengths and weaknesses of the farm.
His focus is on four key areas: herd health, grass, financial management, and breeding.
Kevin completed the Level 6 Advanced Certificate in Agriculture, with merit at Mountbellew Agricultural College in Co Galway. He speaks highly of his time in Mountbellew saying that it was a “very good help”. Getting his training locally made everything possible for him. He feels that Mountbellew and other agricultural colleges are “doing a great job”.
Kevin is a member of a dairy discussion group which he finds beneficial: “It helps, of course, there’s nothing like getting out there and talking to farmers on the ground”.
He gained a lot from his college work experience. His second period of work experience was with Richard and Etna O’Beirne, who are pedigree breeders of Limousin and Charolais cattle. Although it was a different farming system, they taught him the importance of paying attention to detail, he says.
He will also be able to avail of government supports which encourage and help young farmers; he will qualify for three years of the 25% CAP top-up — “very welcome”, he points out.
He is also getting a Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) grant. He acknowledges that the 25% top-up is a useful initiative to get young people into farming, but feels that more is needed to get a young farmer in place.
Dairy farmers around the country — both new entrants and well established — are uncertain how the abolition of milk quotas will affect milk prices. Kevin has successfully obtained the necessary bank loans, and now has loan repayments to meet.
His optimism about the future of farming is apparent, but he says he would “err on the side of caution, you need to be careful and make your system survive even with low prices.”
One way he is making his farm more efficient is to maximise milk production.
All his land is at the back of the milking parlour. “All the land is used to produce milk; heifers are contract reared out. There is milk in the tank from the grass grown, instead of rearing replacements.”
He feels that contract rearing of replacement heifers makes more sense from a labour and profitability point of view, and finds that the heifers are looked after better. He is delighted to have won the 2013 Teagasc/FBD Student of the Year award — to have become a dairy farmer.
“I probably would have done a few things differently, but I love the job, and couldn’t ask for better,” says the young man.
Would he be as optimistic about farming if he was in a different enterprise, say beef farming? “There is a lot of negativity at the moment around beef farming, I’d find it hard to be optimistic if I was in beef farming,”
However, he sees room for improvement on beef farms, in areas like grassland management and discipline on spending.
Where does he see most scope for improvement on his own farm?
“There is no one thing, but grassland I want to improve further, I will always want to improve that. Also breeding— and to become more disciplined in spending and financial management”.
His message for young people considering farming? It’s definitely not the worst job, says Kevin: “you can make farming as complicated or as simple as you like”.
