ICSA says Teagasc suckler project in Athenry at odds with farm reality

ICSA suckler chairman Dermot Kelleher says the new Teagasc suckler research herd in Athenry, Co Galway, is at odds with the reality of the land farmed by many suckler farmers.

The ICSA spokesman says suckler farming needs to produce more weanlings for live export, rather than producing Angus-cross beef for the domestic market.

He expressed concern that the herd is being managed to provide beef to meat factories and will be totally irrelevant to the live export trade.“There are concerns that the focus will be on Angus-cross beef and that the system will be suckler to beef,” said Mr Kelleher.