Applause at beef conference for suckler farmers who 'stayed at it'
One of the final speakers at the 2025 Teagasc National Beef Conference called for a round of applause for "any suckler-beef farmers who stayed at it".
It was suckler-beef farmer and accountant at IFAC, Trevor Boland who commended these farmers before his presentation at the event titled: 'Tax, Planning and Beyond. Invest in your farm, family and future'.
He said: "Thankfully, and it's a good thing, beef farmers are finally making money.
"So for every suckler and beef farmer who stayed at it, you should give yourself a round of applause."
Boland runs an autumn-calving suckler herd and is an accountant with IFAC in Sligo. He is also a member of the Commission on Generational Renewal.
His talk at the beef conference focused on his experience in these three areas.
Looking at the profits made on beef farms this year and tax planning for 2025 and beyond, he said: "Invest in your farm. Invest in your family and invest in your future."
He said that most farms are a one-person operation and noted that help can often be hard to get, so farmers "need good facilities".
"Most importantly, so that the farm is a safe place for you to work.
"If you go out and you get an injury, you're out of work.
"You are not going to be generating any profit and you're going to have to pay somebody to come in and do the work on your farm."
Commenting on farmers investing in the future, Boland said: "Most farmers haven't provided enough of a [private] pension for themselves for the future."
""We as farmers, need to invest more into our pension so that in the future, when it comes the time to retire, to hand the farm onto the next generation, we have enough of an income for ourselves.
"Taking some of those profits, putting it into a pension scheme, putting it into investments, putting it into savings, that's the way you provide for yourselves in the future.
"Then you'll be able to hand the farm onto the next generation in a timely manner."
Boland also said that paying a spouse or children who help out on the farm a wage is another advisable option that can "save on tax along the way by paying the family wages".
"Until farmers sold their own cattle and got the price, they didn't actually know how much money they were going to make in the year," he noted.
"In general, across the board, as an average figure, we could say prices are up €1,000/head."
He noted that costs have stayed "relatively stable" and highlighted other options for farmers to manage their tax bill for this year and into the future.
