Meet the dairy farmers: ‘We've a very environmentally-friendly farming system in Ireland’
Dairy farmer Frank Kennedy from Craanford, Co Wexford. Pictures: Patrick Browne
Frank Kennedy, Craanford, Co Wexford.
Milking 126 cows with a spring calf system is not the easiest life, but it's one that Wexford dairy farmer Frank Kennedy enjoys.
Despite all the upheaval and challenges within the dairy sector, Frank is happy with his lot but admits the Nitrates Directive is going to bring many challenges for farmers when the Nitrates Action Programme recommendations are considered.
Frank started milking in 1995 with 50 cows and is now supplying his milk to Glanbia Ireland — a joint venture that prides itself on working with nature to bring the passion of Irish farmers to the world.
The co-op sources its produce from over 6,000 family farms in the southern region of the country.
Meanwhile, back in Wexford Frank tells the Examiner that his set up wasn’t always a dairy farm.
“We had cattle, tillage and sheep here at one time; everything changes, as they say,” he continued.
“When I started out 50 cows was good going, nowadays you would want 150 cows to be in any way competitive.” Like all dairy farmers, Frank has invested heavily in his farm, “mostly in concrete”, as he says himself.
“I have invested a lot in concrete and machinery to operate the farm efficiently here,” Frank continued.
“I put in a Dairymaster milking parlour in 2008.
“That was an upgrade from an old six-unit parlour; it’s automatic removers full-spec Dairymaster now.”
He says there is a lot of pressure on farmers these days.
The shortage of labour, he pointed out, is adding to that.
“There are a lot of cows on farms now and labour is needed; oftentimes it's not there.
“I have a relief milker and I use contractors as well.
“At the same time you would be thinking to yourself that by the time you pay for all that, I would have done the same thing with a smaller number of cows and had less expense.
“Then the more cows you have, the more land you are renting.
“It’s becoming more and more difficult to get land now as well and the Nitrates Directive is putting a lot of pressure on that aspect of things.
“I accept that the Nitrates Directive is all about water quality which is a very important issue and the reality is that with bigger herd numbers we are all going to have to be a bit more cautious about our waters.
“But I do feel that local authorities have a role to play in all of this - they would need to up their game in relation to sewerage systems.
“There is no doubt but there are big changes ahead.”
Frank also highlighted how livestock is being “unfairly targeted” when it comes to climate change.
“With climate change and the greenhouse gas emissions situation livestock are being unfairly targeted.
“There are people out there who have an agenda when it comes to livestock farming and they are using climate change as an excuse to push their agenda.
“We have a very environmentally friendly farming system in Ireland - one of the few countries in the world now that operates that way; there is a lot to be said for that.”
