They’re a rare and invaluable breed but, when it comes to analysing the Irish agri sector, pig farmers are often overlooked, despite the vital contribution they make not just to agriculture but also to our economy and society as a whole. Mattie Moore, for example, runs a high-quality pig production operation that straddles counties Offaly, Carlow & Wicklow– a business that has been in his family for coming up on half a century.
The fact that it has taken an extraordinary event – a veritable global agricultural disaster – in a distant country on another continent for Irish pig farmers to start securing a fairer price for their produce speaks volumes for the indifference and apathy all too often afforded to these vital members of our agricultural community.
As African Swine Fever spreads like a plague across China, the impact is being felt far and wide. China is the world’s largest pork producer and it is estimated that they will have to cull at least one-third of their pig population, around 130 million animals. The ripple effect is being felt worldwide. In Ireland, pig prices have increased due to the drop in global supply.
A welcome boost of course for the 200 or so pig producers here, but surely it should never have taken a disaster of this magnitude for pig farmers in Ireland to get what they deserve for their produce? Mattie Moore, who keeps 1,400 sows at his breeding farm in Croghan, County Offaly, is not blind to the irony of what has just happened:
“We had a wretched year last year, when feed prices rose after a fairly average 2017. We managed to get some repairs, etc. done around the farms but, remember, you have to cover your credit and your debts before you are making any money, so it wasn’t easy.
“But the outbreak of disease in China has led to a worldwide drop in the supply of pigs and the price of pig meat is rising closer to where we felt it should have been all along. It’s just a shame that it has taken something like this to make it happen.”
Indeed, with pig prices sluggish at best since September, 2017, even though pig meat exports increased by 6% last year and Ireland’s percentage of the EU price rose to 89%, many pig producers here were pushed to the brink. Furthermore, a flood of low-quality imports onto supermarket shelves at the expense of quality-assured Irish pork meant that farmers were losing up to €16 on factory prices on every pig produced. Losses like this are impossible to absorb but at least the outbreak of ASF, which was confirmed last August, has offered some welcome respite.
“It’s certainly an extreme event to have the largest producer in the world culling one-third of its pigs,” the affable Offaly man continues. “The effects of this could be felt for many years. We should have been getting more for our product anyway – end of story – and we have to take it when we get it. Prices increased significantly through April and that is a welcome development.”
Mattie’s father, Pat, started the family business with a single sow in the late ‘sixties. Today, Mattie runs the breeding farm and one finishing farm while Pat oversees two finishing farms. Sadly, the general trend in pig farming is that expansion is required to meet demand but it rarely results in increased revenue. That would be way too straightforward!
“It’s an unfortunate reality that farms are getting bigger and you are actually making less money with more sows,” Mattie confirms. “We are also losing some of the smaller producers, which isn’t good either because, as an industry, pig farming needs high numbers of people as opposed to high numbers of sows in order to strengthen our lobbying position and give us more political clout.”
Accounting for around 8% of Gross Agricultural Output, the pig industry ranks third in Ireland’s agri production figures, with beef and dairy leading the way. The industry supports approximately 7,000 jobs in rural Ireland, yet the voices of Irish pig farmers – who keep their heads down and work so hard to produce the highest-quality product – are largely unheard.
A shareholder in Truly Irish, Mattie Moore sells all his pigs to Dawn Pork & Bacon. In spite of all the challenges facing pig farmers from year to year, from day to day even, he is passionate about what he does and has no intention of walking away from the business:
“I think pig farmers have learned to live with volatility. If you want to be a pig farmer, then you have to accept that you are going to have very bad times but, hopefully, you will have some good times, too,” he states. “It’s a great way of life if you enjoy it. It’s a future I’d like to have for one of my own lads or lassie if they were interested in it. I still think you can make a living out of it.
“My eldest boy is eight now and he says he wants to be a pig farmer. I’m already telling him to take his time before making any decisions, but they all love being on the farm.”
Mattie and his wife Mariam have five kids – Patrick Og, Joseph, Michael, James and Elizabeth – so there’s always pressure to literally keep bringing home the bacon. “Family are a big part of your life,” he says. “Mariam handles all the book work and office work and the business wouldn’t run without her help. It’s the same for my father – my mother Lily does all of that for him.”
As stated previously, the pig industry is a significant employer in rural Ireland and the Moores make a substantial contribution to these numbers. “My father has four lads helping out on his finishing farms, while I have one on the finishing farm and seven on the sow farm,” says Mattie. “It is a good boost for the local economy. If any business in town was closing down with the loss of twelve full-time jobs, you’d hear about it…”
Aged 42, Mattie has been working full-time with pigs since he turned 18. “No.1, I’m a pig farmer – I rear pigs and I enjoy rearing them,” he adds. “If you want pigs to make you money, then you have to look after their health & welfare. If you have healthy pigs, they will perform better and hopefully they will make you money. At the end of the day, farmers want healthy animals on their farm, that’s the main priority.”
One of the unique and refreshing traits of pig farmers is that they work together and don’t view each other as competition. “We’re such a small group that we all know each other and respect one another,” Mattie concludes. “If we go to protests, we are on the same side. At discussion groups, we openly share knowledge with one another. We’re a very tight group and we like to help each other out.”
A rare breed, indeed.
Contact Details:
Mattie Moore, Old Croghan, Croghan, Rhode, County Offaly.
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 7 No 4, August 2019
