Gerald Murphy
Gerald Murphy
Gerald Murphy runs a 107ha (275-acre) farm in partnership with his parents in County Waterford on the south-east coast of Ireland. Dairying is the main enterprise, with emphasis on milk from grass. The mainly all-grass unit carries 110 Holstein Friesian cows and also grows forage maize and cereals for home consumption.
FIRST, I should thank Angela for stepping in last month; I only read her contribution just before I sat down to write this and she did well.
I have been on holiday in Australia for the past three weeks and while there spent a lot of time as a car passenger, which gave me ample opportunity to observe Aussie agriculture from a distance.
It is different to say the least. But one thing we do have in common is an obsession with the weather, though in Ireland ours is from a different direction. While we were getting washed out in mid-summer, they were crying out for rain in mid-winter. There was talk when I was there of crops being lost to the drought, in their equivalent of January.
On the dairying front, I learned something interesting. In some of the Australian states, up to half of the milk produced is subject to a quota, with correspondingly high prices. I did not find any milk price league/survey in any of the farming Press but I did find out that the milk produced under the quota receives a 20c/litre (10p/litre) premium over milk for export.
Assuming that the rest of their production is at world prices, which I understand to be about 10p/litre, then up to half of Aussie production is at prices similar to the UK and Ireland. This came as a surprise, as I had been led to believe that all of the Cairns group countries were producing free of price support.
On the other side of the coin, while beef prices in this part of the world are bad, I think Aussie beef farmers would kill for them. A particular market report that caught my eye was one for 230kg weanlings selling for £100. *
During his recent holiday, Gerald Murphy was surprised to find that up to half the milk produced in some Australian states is subject to quota – with correspondingly high prices – rather than being free of price support.