Michael McDonnell has the distinction of being the only pig farmer currently operating in Co. Galway. As well as running a busy piggery near Loughrea, he is chairman of the northern region of the IFA Pig and Pig Meat Committee.
A much-travelled man with over 40 years’ experience in the pig industry, Michael fulfilled a long-held ambition in 2003 when he purchased New Inn Pig Farm from Kerry Co-Op. Michael keeps 430 sows and supplies 225 pigs a week to the Kepak-owned McCarren Meats in Cavan. The pigs are finished at a separate unit 20 miles from New Inn in Ballyshrule, Portumna.
One of a family of eight raised on a farm in Dunleer, Co. Louth (his brothers Paddy and Richard are still farming at home), Michael first developed an interest in pig farming while completing a one-year practical course at Athenry Agricultural College.
“It was the first time I ever saw pigs,” he jokingly recalls.
“The whole industry appealed to me. Michael Martin, who was a lecturer and a Teagasc pig specialist in Athenry at the time, gave me great encouragement and support to pursue a career in pig farming. I subsequently undertook a three-year pig farm apprenticeship scheme which involved working in three different piggeries. As a matter of fact, I was the first in the country to undertake that particular apprenticeship along with another fella by the name of Michael Casserly.”
On completing his apprenticeship, Michael moved to Doneraile near Mallow to run a pig and tillage farm owned by Jim Treacy. He then went on to spend 11 years managing a pig farm and in the later years, also a 300-strong dairy herd in Ballymanus, Castlepollard, Co. Westmeath for Patrick ‘Buddy’ Kiernan. The late ‘Buddy’ was one of the biggest pig producers in Europe and was also proprietor of the Kiernan Milling company in Granard, Co. Longford which is still going strong today.
After that, Michael moved to Edenderry, Co. Offaly where he developed and ran a 700-sow farm for Edward Kavanagh of Kavanagh’s Mills in Maynooth. His final destination before buying his own pig farm was Clonmel in Co. Tipperary. Here, he spent eight years as General Manager overseeing 3,500 sows for Ronan Farms.
The wealth of experience Michael amassed over the years has stood him in good stead as far as running his own enterprise is concerned. Without having to build on to his unit, which was constructed in 1965, he has been able to double productivity by making better use of space and being more efficient.
“When I took over, there were 220 sows and the live weight of the finished pigs was 100kg. We’ve since increased the number of sows to 430 and the live weight of the finished pigs to 112kg or 84kg dead weight. While many internal improvements have been carried out to the unit, we haven’t had to extend it,” he explains.
“We’ve been using Hermitage Genetics in Kilkenny since day one and their genetics have resulted in high performance and healthy pigs.”
Being the only pig producer in Co. Galway has it pluses and minuses according to Michael: “It’s good from the point of view that we have virtually no slurry handling costs and the risk of disease spreading from another piggery is greatly diminished. The only drawback to our location is we’re removed from the feed supplies. But we have taken steps to getting around this by increasing our feed store capacity. A full load is delivered here every Monday morning and that does us for the week. We buy our feed from Kiernan’s Milling, Glanbia and Devenish Feeds.”
Michael is chairman of both the MPG Group and the northern region of the IFA Pig and Pig Meat Committee. The MPG Group was formed five years ago by eight pig producers from around the country with shared interests to ensure they get the best prices for their pigs from processors. The group also holds regular meetings to discuss issues pertaining to them.
The IFA Pigs and Pig Meat Committee is the representative body for the country’s 300 pig producers who produce approximately 3.5 million pigs for slaughter per annum. These farms combined with the feed mills and factories give employment to over 12,000 people with the potential for further growth. Key policy areas and areas of activity for the Committee include: pig prices and weekly market analysis; meetings with processors to maintain pressure to return a fair price with both suppliers and committee members; promoting the product and ensuring access to the best markets for pigs and pig meat. In addition, the IFA has made significant progress on pig health, welfare and environmental issues and was instrumental a few years ago in ensuring the survival of the Teagasc Pig Production Development unit which guarantees that research and advisory will be available to Irish pig farmers into the future.
One of the IFA Pigs and Pig Meat Committee’s biggest achievements in recent years was setting up the world’s first pig meat DNA programme ‘DNAcertified’. This programme allows IFA to scientifically separate the imported meat from the Irish so that consumers no longer have to rely on labels to be confident of the origin of their meat.
“The DNA programme, which was the brainchild of former national chairman Tim Cullinan, has given the industry a much-needed boost since it was introduced three-and-a-half years ago,” enthuses Michael, whose involvement with the IFA stretches back 15 years and is in his fourth year as northern region chairman.
“Control over the labelling has been worth about 10c a kilo to the Irish pig farmer. Before the DNA programme came about, we had come under a lot of pressure from inferior imported meat products which were mislabelled, thus giving the consumer the impression they were Irish. With this system, we can determine whether the product is Irish or not.”
Despite the success of the DNA programme, Irish pig producers remain under pressure due for a variety of reasons.
“It has been a very difficult 18 months for pig farmers. Unlike other farm sectors, help from the Government hasn’t been forthcoming,” Michael points out.
“The closure of the Russian market, which was a major outlet for poorer quality cuts, coupled with the collapse of European prices due to over-supply, have been two massive body blows. Pig producers are also concerned about the sharp increase in feed costs. Soya bean has gone from €300 a tonne to €430 a tonne in a six-week period. At the end of the day, feeding accounts for 75 per cent of our production costs.
“To restore profitability and maximise our potential, I would like to see us secure our home market and to get a branded Irish product into the UK market, which is right on our doorstep. I would also like to see us make inroads into the Chinese market. With the Chinese moving more towards a Western-style diet, it’s an opportunity which we need to take.”
Married to Geraldine, Michael’s daughter Siobhan runs a dairy farm with her husband in the US, while his son Patrick is also involved in the pig industry in the UK. Michael and Geraldine have another daughter, Elaine, who works in the financial sector, and have six grandchildren. Their other daughter, Fiona, sadly passed away in 2004.
New Inn Pig Farm
New Inn,
Ballinasloe,
Co. Galway.
Telephone: 086 2589968
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 4 No 6, July/August 2016
