'All we can do is try to keep the cost of production as low as possible'

Damian McCarney

Receiving the runners-up crystal trophy in the Lakeland Dairies Milk Quality Awards is another milestone in the recovery of the Morrisons' enterprise having been entirely wiped out four decades years ago.

“We depopulated with brucellosis back in '79, when there was an outbreak across the country,” Winston tells the Celt, sitting in the front garden of their sun-drenched Portlongfield farm, on the outskirts of Killeshandra. “The herd was taken, which was a huge blow at the time.”
The EEC, as it was then, drew up the quota system using three reference years in the early 1980s, which further undermined the Morrisons' dairying enterprise.
“We had signed a contract to stay out of milk production for five years, from '79. So as a result we had no quota. The quota system had come in and we weren't allowed back into milk.”
The Morrisons were amongst the farmers who took a case to European Court and finally were rewarded with what was known as the 'Mulder Quota', named after the German farmer who spearheaded the legal action. Eventually they were permitted back into dairying with a quota based on their milk returns from 1977-79.
“As a result it was smaller than it should have been, and we were always battling then with quota,” explains Winston.
Winston's father, Jim, sought to diversify during these tough times, getting into sucklers, and building up his business putting, his digger to good use for other farmers.
“The unfortunate part of it was when the whole court case was settled, my father dropped dead in 1990 - he never knew that we got the quota back.”
Taking on sole charge of the farm, Winston took some good advice from a prominent Lakelands figure.
“I remember sitting down with Michael Hanley and telling him that I was going to go back into it. He said, 'How many cows are you going to milk?'
“I said, 'Well we'll get up to 30, 50 maybe'.
“That was back in '91, he says, 'Unless you've 100 cows, going forward the family farm will take that to make a living'. He was right – he was spot on. So we've built it up, - we've 90 cows or thereabouts now from 1992.”
Winston is mindful of the contributions of all his family to the success of the farm, but notes that its production levels have stepped up in recent years, with the return of his son Jonathan from Ballyhaise. The two have had a joint herd number since 2015 and are in the midst of formalising their partnership. Given the award for the “exceptionally high quality of milk produced on their farm”, as the citation reads, the Morrisons' partnership is working well.
Sharing the workload is “a huge, huge help” according to Winston.
“I really do have sympathy for the guys who are on their own farming – dairy farming in particular because they are tied to it completely. It's easy saying you'll pay a man to come in and he'll let you away, but it's not just the same.”
They believe consistency in milking is a big factor.
“We have the one routine, we know what way we do it, and it has been built up the last few years. There's nobody else coming in doing it, so that routine has worked.”
About a decade ago they had about 60 cows - a cross of Holstein and British Friesian - and with the quotas removal they began keeping on extra heifers.
A new shed built in 2009 increased their slurry storage capacity. They aren't finished with their expansion plans yet.
“There's plans afoot to build a new parlour, put in additional cubicals,” says Jonathan.
“One of the main drivers for increase was grassland management, which Jonathan here would be very good at, and has increased the paddocks, the amount of grass we can grow, to spend the money on drainage and reseeding, all that kind of work.
“Soil fertility,” Jonathan chips in.
“Getting the pH right in the soil – we've definitely increased the volume of grass we produce. “There's still land that's not up to par,” Jonathan notes in his easy manner.
The Morrisons say the deciding factor in expanding is price. They note that this time two years ago prices languished around 24c/l. They recovered to 35c/l over winter, and settled back at 30-31c/l where they sit now.
“It's possibly on the increase again with oil prices and everything going up – the milk price will probably go up a little bit,” predicts Winston. “We've got used to the volatility of it.”
Jonathan pitches in: “It's the weather that's the key factor. It's ideal at the minute.”
The temperature gauge in the Celt's car last Friday is a tarmac-sweating 30C – it's a quare change from last year's non-summer, when the Morrisons' herd was housed before September was out.
“It's good for this heavy end of the country. We can grow grass here in this kind of weather, where as people in the south, it'd just burn up,” Winston says, and estimates: “We'd survive another month.”
“A week,” Jonathan swiftly revises. “It's going to rain, it's Ireland as they say.”
Weather and price volatility are just two of farming's stars veering out of kilter, creating looming uncertainty - there's also Brexit, pressure on CAP budgets, costs of inputs, and who knows what farmers will be required to do to offset emissions.
Jonathan remains unfazed as the Celt recites a list the young farmer's already well versed in.
“Massive challeneges in every aspect of it,” he agrees. “None of us have control over any of those things – Brexit is the buzzword at the minute.”
Is there anything you can do to plan for it?

“Not really at farm level, it's up to the powers that be – all we can do is try to keep the cost of production as low as possible.”
Winston echoes this sentiment when the Celt notes the proposed 5% reduction in CAP budget.
“If we aren't going to be getting a subsidy, we have to be efficient in what we do and cut the costs out of it and produce the product the best we can, and we can do it as good as any people in the world. If we can do that, Lakeland Dairies will sell the products.
“We always worked on a small margin – that's a known fact down the years – anything to do with farming was a low margin, so we're used to that, I can't see that changing – we are not going to be controlling what price we get – we never did. We have to take what we get more or less.”