ICSA proposes €200 incentive to reduce suckler cows

Many older suckler farmers are putting their lives and health on the line trying to manage suckler cows, and returns from the marketplace are getting worse and worse, says Dermot Kelleher, the suckler committee chairman in the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association.

He proposed that a €200 per suckler cow incentive be made available across the EU for up to five years, to reduce suckler cows numbers, and cut the oversupply of beef in Europe.

“We need to learn from the strategy applied at EU level to deal with the dairy crisis in 2016, where the strategy was a rational move to reduce production to deal with the supply- demand imbalance.”