Denis Lehane: Suburban cowboys celebrate end of quotas

Looking back to 1984, the year milk quotas were introduced, it was a time when I had yet to put my foot on the throttle, or a razor to my chin.

In 1984, astronaut Sally Ride was on board the space shuttle Challenger for her second trip to the stars, and here in Ireland we had the visit of President Ronald Regan to look forward to.

Meanwhile in the sun kissed paradise of California, a film called ‘Back to the Future’ was receiving the finishing touches.

And with the ‘Back to the Future’ films we got a glimpse of a time far into the future. The year 2015 to be exact.

A world of holograms and hover-boards, the film makers believed. An age without borders. “Roads?” Doc Brown quipped as he buckled into his DeLorean heading for 2015, “where we’re going, we don’t need roads.”

And so we now find ourselves in 2015 and sure enough, for dairy farmers who have been under the constraints of a milk quota regime since 1984, they now find that they no longer have roads, or more to the point, road blocks.

With milk quotas a thing of the past, it now seems with regards to milk production that the sky is the limit.

So dairy farmers can now look forward to a bright and wonderful future without a care in the world. Or can they? Last Wednesday April 1st, a new age for milk production dawned.

And to toast the dawn of a new era, many dairy farmers came together to mark the event with a few drinks and perhaps a bite to eat.

One such gathering took place in the Electric Restaurant in Cork city’s South Mall. I went along to meet a group of dairy farmers and gauge the mood as they look forward to the future.

Dairy farmer Kevin McSweeney from Clogheen was 17 when milk quotas were introduced in 1984.

“I was young and enthusiastic,” Kevin explained, “and then when the quota came in it was like hitting a brick wall.”

“If you had 60 cows in 1984 you stayed at sixty cows. Back in the early years you couldn’t go to 90 or 100 cows because there was very little temporary leasing available. So you just got on with it as best you could.

“Farming at that time had just come from a very traditional farming system, and milk yields were just starting to increase. Just as farming was starting to get more intensive, milk quotas hit.”

But in the intervening years Kevin, like many other dairy farmers, has built up quota and now, with the quota system abolished, is in a good position and he is looking forward to dairy farming without quotas.

“The thing about dairy farming is that you just can’t get into cows in the morning and believe that you are away. It takes five or six years of hard work, to get the cow types right and get your system right.”

“For many young dairy farmers who will be starting, caution is not in their vocabulary.

“Young people by their very nature will always want to expand and drive on. They don’t always see the danger.

“And I believe a big problem facing those who will be expanding will be the scarcity of land. Land could well become the new quota.

“It’s all very well having the desire to milk 200 cows, but if you only have 50 acres, where are you going?”

And of course the abolition of quotas has it’s downside too for farmers who built up a substantial quota over the years, as another farmer pointed out on Wednesday night.

“Two or three years ago, if you had say 500,000 litres of milk, at 30cent per litre it had a value, a value of about 150k.

“If you broke your two legs in the morning and you had a milk quota, you could lease it or sell it. It was like a pension, and now you have nothing.”

Pat Ahern is thought to be the last remaining farmer in the parish of Ballyphehane. With his farm stretching close to Cork airport, Pat is looking forward to the years ahead post quota, but doesn’t have his head in the clouds.

For the past three years Pat has been preparing for life after quotas, concentrating on the infrastructure of the farm, building up his herd from within, taking cow numbers from 75 to 100.

And also improving his milking parlour taking it from an eight-unit to a 16-unit ‘bells and whistles’ type of parlour. A one man operation in other words.

Pat is now milking 100 cows. Now while it would have been a ludicrous question to ask a number of years ago, with dairy expansion being all the rage, I ask Pat does he feel 100 cows will be enough for the years ahead?

“Yes I do. I think we need to keep our heads as we go forward. Expansion should not be rushed into. Farmers need to be acutely aware of the cost, not only financially, but also with regards to family life.”

And also on the night, it was pointed out that agricultural produce, beef, milk, grain haven’t increased inline with other commodities with Pat Aherne adding; “One farmer I met recently said that in the mid 1980’s if he sold 7 cull cows, with the cheque he could have purchased a new Toyota Corolla.

“Today he would have to sell 25 cull cows at least, and I’d say he would still be a bit short for the new car. In spite of what some people might believe, it’s not gold that is growing in the fields.”