Farm merchants in the west of Ireland are confirming a significant growth in the sales of organic sheep feed buckets since the turn of the year.
“The Organic Farming Scheme is driving this demand,” confirmed Brian Joyce, the owner of Connemara-based Joyce Grocery and Hardware Supplies.
“We have seen a four-fold increase in sales over the past number of weeks. All of the sheep farms in this area are very extensive in nature.
“The ewes are on the hill for most of the year. As a result, very little fertiliser is sown and minimal feed offered,” he told Agriland.
He explained that the only exception to this rule would be the use of feed buckets in the run-up to lambing.
“Farmers see this as an important way to keep condition on out-wintered ewes. Buckets are also a much more flexible feeding option,” he stated.
Organic sheep feed buckets
According to Joyce, most of the sheep farmers in the Connemara area would have always regarded their enterprises as being organic in nature.
“So making the move to apply for the new scheme will not require that big of a change in terms of overall flock management,” he commented.
“That’s why we are now starting to see a tremendous growth in demand for certified organic sheep buckets. And as the spring lambing season gets closer, this trend is likely to strengthen further.”
Significantly, Joyce believes that 2024 will see an even larger push towards certified organic status on the part of sheep farmers.
Meanwhile, Caltech Crystalyx, one of the largest suppliers of feed buckets on the Irish market, is confirming a three-fold increase in demand for organic sheep licks.
“It’s all down to the Organic Farming Scheme,” the company’s Luke Morgan confirmed.
“We are just about keeping up with orders for the products at the present time. The demand for the organic blocks is strongest in the hill areas around the country.”
The Irish government is committed to bringing the total agricultural area under organic production to 7.5% by 2027.
The 2023 budget sees an allocation of €37 million to organic farming.
According to the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA), all farmers who applied for the organics scheme, under the last call for applications, will be admitted.
It is understood that 2,134 applications were submitted by the December 9, 2022 deadline