Farm safety: ‘It’s essential that farmers act without delay’

When I spoke to Thomas Ryan, Tirlán’s senior sustainability manager, recently on KCLR's Farm Show, we agreed that the recent Moorepark Open Day was an extremely impressive event with only one caveat – not meant in a negative way – that it was a case of information overload.

Thomas set the description in context: “Such was the volume of information available along the way that it took several hours to arrive at the Ornua pavilion down at the Moorepark farmyard.”
In addition to the information and educational remit, the social aspect of Moorepark makes it worth the visit, he says. "There are opportunities to discuss the latest research and advice with Moorepark staff, but also to interact with fellow farmers and friends to gauge the impact of the messages being conveyed on the day. The first four boards set the scene and the various workshops and exhibitions really dug into the detail involved in adopting different practices ranging from clover incorporation to breeding strategies.” And the hard questions, of which Thomas is well aware, were being asked. “They mirror many of the questions I get asked regularly in my role with Tirlán. How are we going to manage cow banding without damaging our production model and impacting on profitability? How many cows would I have to reduce by if the Nitrates Derogation were to be reduced to 220kg?”

Prioritising farm safety

During our conversation, attention turned to farm safety, with Thomas welcoming the additional funding that is available under the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme. “Sometimes we hear about the tragedies as reported in the paper or on the TV news headlines. Often, we don’t hear about the near misses or about the people who are to maimed for life. I welcome the new additional funding to encourage the wearing of quad-bike helmets and for ensuring that all PTO-shaft covers are in good working order. The 60 per cent funding [under TAMS] is well worthwhile, and it is time limited so it’s essential that farmers act without delay. Purchase the helmets and check all PTO covers to make sure that they are in full working order before the closing date for applications in September,” he advises. “In terms of general farm safety, I think it’s useful to get a fresh pair of eyes to walk around your farm and look at all areas and activities where there are potential safety issues. Often, we don’t see a problem ourselves because we are there every day and just don’t recognise a danger. We take things for granted sometimes but it’s too late when there is someone missing from the dinner table. We have feed and fodder budgets, maybe we also need a farm safety budget or audit,” he says.

Time for sustainability action

Tirlán initiated a sustainability payment last year, which was heavily subscribed to by the co-op’s farmers and Thomas is expecting an equally positive response this year: “There is a 0.5c/L payment available to milk suppliers for actions taken on their farms to improve the overall sustainability of their enterprises. There is a menu of 18 options, of which seven should be chosen for action and adoption on the farm in order to lock in that payment next year.

“At a time of reduced milk prices there is significant money – €3,000 – at stake for the average supplier. The measures are pragmatic and relatively straightforward to adopt on farms. They include clover incorporation, multispecies adoption, milk recording, a nutrient-management plan, low-emission slurry spreading, fencing off watercourses, the use of sexed semen. These are all practical measures and in most cases are economically positive for farm profitability.”

"We have feed and fodder budgets, maybe we also need a farm-safety budget or audit"

World-class breeding programmes

Thomas said he was delighted with the positive response of dairy farmers to the option of adopting sexed semen in their breeding practices: “Farmers have been very proactive in that regard, together with utilising the carbon breeding sub-index, as part of their overall Economic Breeding Index (EBI) choices.
"Our breeding programmes are the envy of many dairy sectors across the world. That fact really came home to me when I met farmers, researchers and advisors from several countries who were attending the Moorepark Open Day. They are very impressed by the science and expertise involved, which is allowing farmers, as they are selecting bulls, to make objective selections around the Dairy Beef Index (DBI), carbon, and all the other traits of importance contained in the breeding index. All of this is happening because of the close collaboration between ICBF, Teagasc and others. The genotyping scheme, introduced recently, has a good take-up and that should facilitate further breeding progress to be made quickly.”

Animal-welfare standards

Animal welfare is a critical issue for Tirlán and Thomas is adamant that farmers must maintain the highest standards: “The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine finances 99 animal-welfare groups every year, spending €5.8m in support. It is an issue of the highest importance for everyone involved in the farm sector. The Twenty20 Beef Club is an example of the commitment that Tirlán has to high animal welfare standards. Dairy-calf-to-beef is complementary to milk production. It is in all our interests that there is an ongoing flow of high beef potential calves available for this enterprise. While the retention of the calf live export market is hugely important, it is also critically important that we maximise the potential of the vast majority of calves that are retained in Ireland.”

Tirlán Academy

Tirlán’s novel initiative last year to establish an academy of influencers was also fully subscribed and will be repeated this year, Thomas confirmed: “The Sustainable Farming Academy is a collaborative initiative with Baileys, which allows 20 fully funded places to be made available to Tirlán members to study for an Environment, Climate and Sustainability Diploma at UCC. It is a combination of online lectures and project work over the course of a year. The next cohort will start the diploma course shortly.”