More red tape to keep the farmers down – the latest letters sent out to farmers informing them if their herd is a high risk TB herd or a low risk TB herd!

Herds that might have been locked up 10 years ago are coming back to haunt them. Have these farmers not been through enough already? What difference will it make?

I’ll tell you the difference it will make… It will mean less money for the farmers once again if this will be displayed on mart boards. We might as well give away our cattle for nothing.

TB should stand for ‘Take Bovines’

TB should stand for ‘take bovines’ for free! Why is there constant moves being made to squeeze out the beef farmer? There has been enough money allocated to eradicate TB over the last number of years.

Surely it is time now to respect the primary producer and let us make a living. Everyone else is making money out of farming except the farmers.

I welcome Peadar Toibín’s bill of banning below cost of production for beef farmers. I was one of the people to travel to the Dáil to support and ensure this bill gets passed so that the farmers will at least break even with their produce.

This current pandemic as bad and all as it is, has proven beef farmers are essential. We are lucky now we don’t have to rely on the Mercosur countries to feed our nation.

We have the best grass-fed meat in the world but yet we are made feel nearly ashamed for producing it. Even during this pandemic when the consumption of red meat soared we are still getting pittance…the mind boggles.

Will it ever change or will we continue to be slaves on our own land?

From Helen O’ Sullivan Co. Cork