It’ll get a nice post award on the roaster thread in years to come.
I’ve sunk as much as I can, they’re not chape here
Well saved Hay is money in the bank.
I hope he had paid for that hay before he left the field.
Any of ye on the picket lines lads?
MHR racking up the easy likes again.
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I tip down to Rathkeale a few nights a week. Mainly Kerry lads down there.
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I’m with ye on this one. About time they did it. I don’t know why ye don’t have a meat farmers co-op
How long until the beef supply is disrupted do you reckon. Should I have a few steaks in the freezer?
There’s actually very little cold storage in Ireland or UK, will start to be a problem next week. Not sure if the problem will be here though as 90% of the beef is exported. Local butchers will be killing their own and aren’t affected. It’s the 12-14 big factories that Garry Loodman controls that are being affected. We’ll probably gain fuck all from this but it’s good to throw a spanner in the works of those criminals.
Simple facts are if you spend €10 on meat
Retailer gets 5.10 for three days work
Processor (Loodman) gets 2.90 for three days work
Farmer gets 2 euro for 2 and a half years work
About 10-15 year ago farmers were getting 40% of the retail price, now we get 20%.
As to why don’t farmers setup a factory, it’s pointless as that scumbag cunt has a cartel in operations and it wouldn’t get off the ground. He controls the offal and rendering so every factory has to abide by his directives in keeping the price down or he’ll shut the plant down.
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Could ye not get into the offal game as well sure, if the cunt has no cows going in his door he won’t last long
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No, it’s licensed. Not that easy I’m lead to believe. Live export kept the trade alive up until the 90s. Buyers would come over from England and buy Irish cattle, ship them back and process them over in the UK. He lobbied to get this banned so that the only option farmers had was to go to the Irish plants, which are a cartel. So there’s no free market for us in this regard with no live export. He argued that we were losing processing jobs to the UK. That worked out fucking great for Garry Loodman 
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No fear the competition authority would get involved I suppose
They should have stood in here but no sign of them… it was left to the European Commission to give its blessing and Big Phil nodded.
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God be with the days of the live exports. Thousands of cattle been bet down the quay in Waterford with lengths of hose. Shite everywhere. A startled bullock ran in the front door of the Tower Hotel one day and caused mayhem.
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And even though you knew twas wrong you looked away and kept walking with the head down like the rest of the your generation?
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They were a great generation for looking the other way all the same.
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We were too busy bringing the washing around to the Magdalene laundry to be bothered with cattle.
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It was a great day out for them.
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An old college buddy summing up the emotions around these protests…
"I didn’t plan on logging back in anytime soon, but what I’ve seen and experienced in the last 2 weeks taking part in the beefplan protest has made a lasting impression.
This is going to be long, meandering, convoluted and rambling. Don’t bother telling me afterwards it’s minutes of your life you’ll never get back. But if you’re from the country, you might appreciate it. And if you’re from the town, you might get an insight.
It was a combination of curiosity and a sense of duty to the auld lad that brought me down to the Sunday night meeting when the Athleague protest was launched. Being a creature who keeps odd hours, I decided I’d try to turn up during the graveyard shift in the early hours. I’ve managed to make it down every morning bar one since.
The first morning, there was 6 there at 4am. Nobody knew what to expect. No real optimism, but instead a sense that this would be beef farming’s- and by extension, rural life as we know it in the West of Ireland’s- Custer’s Last Stand, or it’s Battle of Kinsale. If it petered out, or got slapped down, there would be no recovery. No second chance.
At this point, it’s important to note the stewards. The importance of one voice, one focal point, one person to negotiate with the lorries and trailers and jeeps. To a man, they are excellent in Athleague. They organise, they rally, they encourage- in a nutshell, they inspire. Where drivers are willing to engage, they do the talking: respectful, polite, appealing to the driver’s nature. Some do the decent thing, and turn away. There are those who will barge through, endangering those standing along the picket. As numbers grow, however, it might just not be as easy anymore- and they have shown themselves for what they are.
People won’t forget.
From that tentative beginning, there was two critical factors that galvanised the picketers and saw the protest gaining critical momentum. One was the weather. The second was the day the vets turned back from the picket line. The ripple of applause that spread down the line as they turned back was a lift that’s hard to explain or quantify. It was a small, but hugely significant, battle won. Since then, more and more people are arriving daily. There’s a sense of purpose, and a sense of belief. The outcome is far from certain, but now it’s the process that is all-important. Stock is still moving, but not without a statement.
There are mixed views about those that are crossing the line. Some go by with a hangdog, sheepish expression. Some argue that they are just haulers, that that’s their job. Others are arrogant. A lot are reckless, charging the line. It took RTE a fair while to report anything. This after 3 incidents where men were hit, and in one case, seriously injured. One wonders whose agenda was being adhered to by the state broadcaster in their 6 days of silence. I saw two jeeps and a tractor drive against people. Sooner or later, someone will get hurt.
There is a recognition that perhaps someone is desperately in need of money- but things will only get worse anyway over time if some sort of resolution isn’t reached. Then there are those who just don’t care. They’re not stuck for money. Maybe they are stuck for principles. There are those who are offered a sweetheart deal- 30 or 50 cent over base. Sure if everyone got that, there’d be no protest. Jesus himself had one out of 12 that sold him out for 30 pieces of silver. Anecdotally, 30c/ kg is the going rate these days, it would seem.
But there is one hugely positive by product of this whole process. There is a real sense of community- and communication- where before there was individuals dealing with all this on their own, in isolation. People are connecting. You’ll see elderly people energised. It doesn’t matter who you are, or what you do, or whether you are a big or small farmer. You just chat to the person beside you. The social dimension cannot be measured. The wellbeing and mental health benefits cannot be measured.
Regardless of the outcome of market prices, this protest will have left a lasting legacy for those that were there.
There are men and women of all ages there. A lot you recognise daily, and more and more new faces appearing. You meet such a cross section of characters. There are optimists, pragmatists, idealists, realists, zealots- all standing on common ground. All with a common goal, and an opportunity to talk about it to a sympathetic ear. No one is under any illusion but that they are merely at atom- if even that- in the grand scheme of things, and that there are pretty intimidating odds both currently and in the immediate future. The simple fact of the lack of coverage in the media or from politicians initially just illustrated what farmers knew already about where farmers stand. But despite all this, there is a resolve. There’s a sense that this is becoming about more than just the price of beef. This is about the nature and fabric of rural living.
It’s ironic that the one thing that everyone needs to survive is food, yet wherever you look at in the world, and whatever the food type, the producer is generally near the bottom of the ladder. I’m sure you’ve seen the poster illustrating the breakdown of a tenner of beef- 2 to the farmer for 2 years of labour and risk and regulations. As one man pointed out, 2 years of worrying about ways to keep it alive, while all the processors and retailers have to worry about is that it doesn’t come back to life!!
Processors have a job to do- margins to be made, shareholders to be looked after, as do retailers. All the farmers want is a fair slice of the pie.
Anyway, it’s nearly time to head to the line again. I’m probably into the 2nd half of my life now. I’d like to think that what’s left of my future will feature farming. I’ve 2 little nephews- I’d like to think that such a future would be open to them some day, if they so wished. And if I ever had one of my own, again I’d like to think the future would be there again.
I’m not a numbers man. I’ve no doubt a hard-nosed business head could pulverise a lot of my points.
Money is important- but some things are more important than money.
Support the Beef Plan protest, if you can at all."
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This is a good point. Getting fuck all media coverage.
Great post by your pal
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