Paula Hynes: 15 years in Irish dairy farming
Pete and Paula Hynes enjoying 15 years of farming together as a big birthday looms. Picture: Clare Keogh
Life is all about milestones, and we have had plenty of them this year.
Our first national champion at the National YMA calf show, Becky's major success at home and abroad clipping dairy animals in competition, the birth of our granddaughter Fiadh, dual Jersey champion at the National Dairy Show along with premier breeder and exhibitor, and of course our first time competing at the Baileys in Virginia, Co. Cavan. But two more very important milestones are upon us now.
Fiadh was christened last weekend, a very important milestone in any child's life, and that is regardless of religious faith, because every religion has its own version of baptism, which I think is very important to recognise given how diverse our societies have become. Fiadh was baptised catholic in our local church in Cloughduv and for all the right reasons, it was a joyous occasion.
She sat with her parents at the top of the church and happily spent the 45 minutes content, looking around at all that was before her as she continues to explore the big world. She even gave the priest a smile as he chatted directly to her.
Fr O'Driscoll is new to our parish and an absolute breath of fresh air who made the occasion so memorable and inclusive. I left the church thinking to myself that while the Catholic Church may have struggled to maintain followers in areas, if there were more Fr O'Driscolls in the world, footfall would increase for sure as he is a joy to listen to and we all need a peaceful place to escape the hustle and bustle of life and gather our thoughts.
It is fascinating to watch our granddaughter grow so fast, and while she was so small when she was born, she is now strong, alert and has the opportunity to grow her own religious faith in whatever form she may see that.
Fiadh will keep her grandfather busy, Pete turns 50 this week, and of course, it is a major milestone for him and our household. More importantly, it reminds us in our hectic lives exactly how time flies by. It seems like only yesterday we started dating and here we are together over 30 years later, three daughters and a granddaughter, and 15 years farming together. A lot has happened in those 15 years of farming.
We started out as beef and dairy farmers. At the time, beef was barely hitting €3 a kilo, beef calves were a lossmaker on the farm, dairy was the only real show in town and milk could be produced for 25 cent a litre. The EU removed milk quotas.
Like everyone else, we expanded for what was set to be a golden era for Irish dairy. Of course, dairy-bred calves became cheaper, but milk rolled on and then climate change became a hot topic, and dairy farmers became the bad boys in town.
Then a new EU challenge rose in the form of the nitrates derogation that could reduce the Irish dairy herd by almost 200,000 cows.
Well that cost-efficient reducing nitrates derogation is still ruling the roost, and the EU have yet to decide if Ireland will be granted a derogation by January 2026. I know it is utterly mind-boggling that we as dairy farmers do not know how we will be farming in less than two months from a regulatory point of view.
Well 15 years onwards, regulations have increased, dairy is not the greatest show in town, dairy markets look like they’ve taken a bungy jump with a rope too long, the cost of producing cheap grass-based dairy has now jumped 17 cent to 42 cent a litre and just like the nitrates derogation sidelined climate change, beef has sin-binned dairy and become the cash flow saviour for most dairy farmers.
Imagine if you stood up at a farm walk 15 years ago and said beef prices would hit €8 a kilo in 2025 and the cost of producing a litre of milk from grass would rise to 42 cent and the EU would look to reduce dairy herds 10 years after allowing them to expand.
The laughter would have been heard in neighbouring parishes.
I am not certain Pete would have the happiest of 50th birthdays if I reminded him of how absolutely bonkers the last 15 years of farming have been, and perhaps that is why he vowed we would escape the crazy world for a week for his birthday.
As farmers, we need to cherish the good times as they are short-lived and, as people, we need to do the exact same. So we are making memories for the milestone birthday, date nights, time to chat, relax and rest the weary farmer's bones.
To survive in farming you have to be tough, resilient and work your way through the highs and lows, to survive 30 years together as a couple the exact same mentality is required, and as we get older we seem to cherish the good days in farming more. The same can be said for me as I will cherish every moment of our adventure together.
Before the suitcases were packed, the AI guns were loaded at home as we have been busy serving autumn calvers, especially heifers, all of which have been showing very strong natural heats. We have been using sexed semen on all the heifers.
Rouge, Jagerbomb and Acorn have been served as have some of our Jersey heifers. We will most likely use more beef on our cows, but as Pete always reminds me, breed up the heifers. If a heifer needs a beef straw, she shouldn’t really be on the farm in the first place.
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