App allows farmers to do work by phone

Farmers will be phoning home more often, thanks to the latest mobile and smart phone applications which help them tackle day-to-day tasks.

One of the apps allows farmers to switch on and off by text equipment such as electric fences, or water pumps and heaters, or lighting.

Costing €180 plus Vat, it won the new innovation award for Co Tipperary manufacturer Suirway Automation, at the National Dairy Show in Millstreet.

The runner-up in the competition was a French-designed GSM-based device which alerts farmers on their phones when key cow events such as calving are occurring.

It is marketed by the Co Antrim-based Cowcare Systems.

The tremendous genetic advances made by the dairy farming industry were also evident at the Millstreet event, which has showcased a transformation from Friesian to Holstein domination of the national milk herd in its 30-year history.

Irish dairy cattle are “second to none” in the world, said Canadian expert Carl Phoenix, who judged 230 or Ireland’s best last Saturday, and made Ridgefield Dundee Portea the Irish Examiner supreme champion of the 30th National Dairy Show, to the delight of owners Pat and Derek Frawley of Croagh, Rathkeale, Co Limerick.

The show was opened by Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, who revealed that two thirds of farmers have been successful in seeking derogations from new rules which would have reduced their disadvantaged area payments. About 3,000 out of 8,500 are still in the derogation process, and a further appeals procedure is open to unsuccessful farmers.

Mr Coveney acknowledged that farmers are having a tough year due to bad weather, and high feed costs adding to production costs, but said, “In the medium term, farmers are excited about growth prospects.”

However, cattle judge Carl Phoenix warned of the downsides in the EU plan to scrap its milk quota system after 2015, which will free farmers to produce more milk for the dairy industry. He said farmers will need a plan to prevent over-production, or will have to depend on increasingly indebted governments to provide a safety net.

“I hope we keep quotas in Canada,” he said.