Women will play more prominent role in the future of Irish dairy

But despite the various uncertainties that exist in the agriculture sector and for the future of Irish farms, one thing for certain is that the face of farming is certainly changing, with an increased focus on getting more women and youth into the industry.

However, Karen Smyth, a dairy farmer in Co Offaly, fears that it is difficult to encourage young people into the sector, particularly women, especially if they do not come from a farming background.

Yet, she never let that stop herself from getting into the industry.

“I lived in the town of Cloughjordan all my life. I think I had a very far out relation involved in agriculture in Tullamore,” she says.

She was “fierce fond of horses” growing up, and “when I finished school I went off to do this riding instructors course”.

“The whole thing was a disaster, I didn’t like it at all; I came home to Cloughjordan and I said ‘what am I going to do?’” she recalls.

“I got word that there was a place in Gurteen College for me. They had started and I was about five weeks behind, I remember there were 91 fellas on the course and there were eight other girls. That time in Gurteen you did horses but you also did all the rest of farming; it was the best thing ever, I loved it.” 

She did her studies, and “started buying a few calves then when I got my herd number”.

“I remember I bought shorthorn calves; when I went to the mart I got great money for them and I said ‘this is great altogether’.” 

Karen married her husband Joe in 2006.

His father unfortunately died in a farm accident on the farm in the 1980s. Karen says her husband has fond memories of when his father “put in a new parlour which was a six-unit, and people were coming from everywhere to look at this parlour”.

Joe was the eldest. After his father’s death, his mother “kept milking until the herd went down with brucellosis, she then farmed suckler cows until Joe was old enough to start milking again; she kept the place alive,” according to Karen.

Subsequently, she went down with TB, and got rid of the cows.

“Joe came home to farm in 2000 and get the place up and running and again,” she says. “I was on the scene and I started milking cows with him and blocking a few gaps, moving calves and all the rest. We have four children, two boys and two girls, and in fairness, they’re all great to give a hand on the farm.

“We built it up to 70 cows in about 2006, and we’re at 160 now. We put up a new milking parlour in 2013, we put in a 14-unit milking parlour, and in 2019 we put up a big cubicle shed.” 

The farm is in derogation, “but we’re ok”, Karen says, “we have the land — but we have it at a price”.

“We have about 320 acres, we own 200, and rent 120,” she explains. “We’re spring calving, and we hold all the calves so there is some workload in that. All our calves get treated the very same whether they’re female, male, Friesian, Hereford, Angus. They’re all fed the same and looked after the same.

“We hold calves for between a year and a year-and-a-half, and we sell them. We’d have repeat customers for the stock.” 

One of the biggest challenges for the farm has been labour, Karen says, and she doesn’t see this changing any time soon.

“It’s impossible to get labour, it’s shocking,” she continues. “We have a Ukrainian chap working with us since June,” who has worked out great, she says, and they have taken on placement students through the years, many of which have been great.

Dropped milk prices and high input costs this year created the perfect storm on the farm; last year was a better year financially, this year more difficult, Karen says. “My biggest job every month is when the milk cheque comes in, to sit down and say right, ‘who’s going to get a piece of the cake now?’,” she says.

“It gets fair disheartening. You don’t have to give the milk price that was last year, but there should be a set price that you can survive farming. You don’t have to have a luxurious holiday every three months, but there needs to be something.” 

Something Karen hopes to see end in the coming years is farming being “blamed for everything, and they’re not able to speak up for themselves because they’re so bent over with work”.

As for the future of her own enterprise, “you can’t plan too much in farming”, and there is always change on the horizon — “it was only a few years ago we were told get as many cows in, now it’s that you’ll have to cut back”.

But, herself and her husband have no intention of stepping back any time soon.

And that certainly isn’t such a burden: while a lot of the time it can feel like “the fun is gone out of it”, the farming community is one Karen is proud to be part of.

“They’re such nice people. How they do they keep going, I don’t know. No matter how tough it gets, they stay going. The strength and the willpower they have is something else,” she says.

Eventually, “hopefully, my son will take over”.

“He’s only 15, he’s doing his junior cert, and I would love for him to get his green cert but I’d love for him to go away from the house, the farm, for as long as he wants. Our daughter Kate likes the cows too and she is especially good when it comes to milk recording.” 

Karen says she would want to be able to support her son in taking over the farm “because I know what it’s like. My 15-year-old, he’s not that fond of milking but he knows it’s the way to survive,” Karen says.

He is “big into machinery”, and she can see him adopting all the latest technology on the farm.

She feels overall, there is not enough encouragement and incentivisation in Ireland to get young people into farming, especially those who don’t come from a farm.

She says when she goes to meetings and the attendance is largely made up of older farmers, she wonders “where this is all going?”.

“I certainly would love to see more women getting into it,” she adds. “The women are great — they cope with the farm, the house, the books. They can do so much. I never feel out of place as a woman.” 

There are specific measures in Ireland’s new CAP Strategic Plan that aim to support greater gender equality in agriculture.

One such measure that gained a lot of traction this year is the TAMS 3 Woman Farmers’ Capital Investment Scheme.

This scheme aims to support to women farmers in the industry and offers a higher grant aid rate at 60% for those qualifying.

Aoife Ladd, who is in her early 30s and dairy farming in partnership with her father in Castletownroche, feels that measures that give confidence to women and encourage those truly interested in the field should be introduced.

However, she doesn’t “dwell” on the idea of gender in farming; “you know you’re in a male-dominant job, but I take no notice of it”.

“At the end of the day what we’re selling is a product. Whether you’re supplying milk or meat, price is based on product going into the factory or creamery,” she says, rather than who is supplying the product.

At meetings and events, “over the years, I never took notice that I was the only female” present, Aoife says, adding that her biggest concern is the ageing profile of farmers in the industry and feels this must be addressed.

She knew from a young age that she wanted to work on the family farm, where she now has around 75 cows, “we just keep replacements, we don’t keep any other livestock normally”.

Aoife studied at Clonakilty Agricultural College, having also previously considered going into childcare.

“Cows are like children, they know what you’re saying, they don’t always listen!” Aoife laughs.

“I obviously like the animals and fair enough, it can be tough, but you have a variety and flexibility — when things go right.

“There’s a lot of things that can go wrong. You have to plough on and keep going and try and stay optimistic to a certain point.” 

Her advice for aspiring farmers, male or female: “It’s trial and error”.

“No two farms are the same, what I try might work for me but not for another farm,” she says.

“But definitely, a lot of farmers are open to trying out different practices.” And Aoife certainly is, and is feeling somewhat positive for the future of her farm.

Acknowledging the cut to the derogation, milk prices, and climate action all as big challenges, she feels that there will “always be changes”, whether these are to rules, regulations, and general practices on the farm.

“You don’t get into dairying overnight and out of it overnight. You can’t just get into the good years and out for the bad years, if you inseminate a cow today it’s going to be three years before that animal is in the parlour,” she says.

“You don’t know what’s fully coming, but still try to prepare.

“There’s always going to be highs and lows, good years and bad years; but if prices are going down and something breaks, if you sit down and think of everything that’s going wrong, you could get very depressed very quickly.” 

She says that every farmer, including herself, “is always trying to improve efficiencies”.

“In the dairying, you’d be working on your breeding constantly, on grassland and soil fertility. There’s a bit more emphasis on clover, and technology to a point,” she says.

While she doesn’t have “every gadget out there”, she has made improvements on the farm that help her to do the job as best she can such as investing in an automatic calf feeder and a drafting gate, to “make life simpler”.

Going forward, “certain technology will be worth investing in” for Aoife’s farm.

But overall, there are “some things you can put in simply, it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, and it makes a big difference”.

Without a “crystal ball”, Aoife says it is all about “embracing what’s coming at us and trying to improve”.