These are trying times for pig farmers the length and breadth of the country but Dickie Norton of Ballingarry Piggery is keeping the faith.
Limerick ended their long wait for Liam MacCarthy glory in August when dethroning Galway at Croke Park. Many years of hard work and toil at underage level laid the foundations for the win and the financial contribution of team sponsor JP McManus was also a vital ingredient in the Treaty County’s winning formula.
Keen not to be seen to be taking too much credit for the victory, sponsor McManus recited a favourite saying of his at the celebratory banquet in the City West Hotel on the Sunday night of their 3-16 to 2-18 triumph: “We are involved with this group of lads but to say they are involved is not enough – this is a committed bunch.
“It’s an old phrase of my but the difference between being involved and being committed is like when you have bacon and egg for breakfast – the hen was involved but the pig was committed!”
It’s a saying that would have resonated with the many committed pig farmers up and down the country, pig farmers like Dickie Norton of Ballingarry Piggery which is located in County Tipperary, on the border with Kilkenny.
“The unit was originally built by my father Tommy and his brother Sean in 1978,” Dickie informed Irish Tractor & Agri magazine. “In 1997, we went from 500 sows to 1,000 sows. We destocked in 2012 and restocked using Hermitage Genetics. There has been minimal disease since then. The pigs are Landrace and Large White breeds and we run a farrow to finish system.”
The Nortons have been selling their pigs to Ireland’s largest pig processor Rosderra for the past 30 years and Dickie – who is married to Sarah and father of Roisin, Mossie and Orlaith – currently has six employees on his payroll. “My mother Mary looks after the book work and father Tommy is still very much involved,” he added.
Pig production in Ireland ranks third in importance behind beef and milk production accounting for 8% of Gross Agricultural Output. Employment in the pig sector accounts for at least 1,300 labour units on farms, with the total number employed in associated sectors such as pig meat processing, feed manufacture, haulage and services being estimated at 8,300.
There is an estimated 290 commercial sow herds in Ireland and the June 2016 CSO Livestock Survey reported that there are 1.6 million pigs in Ireland, including 149,900 breeding sows.
In 2016 Ireland exported an estimated 235,000 tonnes of pigment, worth approximately €615 million. The UK was the main Irish pigmeat market receiving 56% of our total pigmeat exports, 16% was exported to Continental EU and the remaining 28% went to international markets.
The volatility of the pig price cycle of high prices followed by increased production and low prices have deepened the financial crisis facing pig farmers. It is no exaggeration to state that Ireland’s third largest agri sector is in a financial crisis and the outlook is bleak for the months ahead.
The current climate is a cause of concern for Dickie but he is not pressing the panic button just yet.
“The feed price is up, and the pig price down and there is no doubt that we are facing into an uncertain future. But, that said, people who are involved in pigs generally don’t panic because it usually swings around. With everything that is going on it is hard to know what the future holds in store but all we can do is keep performance inside the gate up and disease out.”
Has Dickie any suggestions that might help to reverse the downward trends that have been all too prevalent in recent times?
“There needs to be more emphasis put on Irish produced pork and bacon products,” he insisted. “Ireland is small compared to the rest of the world so people need to be encouraged to support their own.”
It’s not all doom and gloom as far as Dickie is concerned. Pig farming is in his blood and it is a way of life that particularly appeals to him.
“It’s routine that lends itself to being involved in other activities outside of farming like hurling, football, horse riding and coaching underage GAA in the local Ballingarry GAA club. As I said, hopefully things will turn around. We’ve been in it a long time now and it usually does,” he concluded.
Ballingarry Pig Farms Ltd
Gragaugh
Ballingarry
Co Tipperary
Tel: 086 4136003
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 6 No 7, November 2018
