Emer Gallagher
ENTERPRISING Mayo farmers are leading the way nationwide with a direct approach to selling their livestock.
The Lake District Sheep Producers, which is made up of 350 sheep farmers from south and west Mayo, are gearing up to market their produce direct to the public from their Ballinrobe base.
And the entrepreneurial group, one of the largest in the country, hopes to sell up to 3,000 lambs in its first year of business, with a view to expansion if the venture is well received.
The project, believed to be the first of its kind undertaken by such a group in Ireland, is headed up by group chairman Tom Staunton, from Shanvallyard, Tourmakeady, along with Gerry Murphy, from the Ballinrobe Teagasc office.
Mr Staunton told The Mayo News that they hope to be up and running by the end of the year. The direct approach, which will see the farmers sell directly to consumers, restaurants, small delis and shops, came about as a means to increase profit and viability within the sheep sector.
“We had to take a look at doing something that would make sheep farming more viable to us,” said Mr Staunton. “The whole idea behind this was due to the low price we are getting for lamb. We as farmers needed to add to the value of lamb.”
A marketing study has been undertaken into the demand for the product in the area with a positive response emanating from the research. At the moment plans are moving forward for the initiative with a feasibility and marketing study under way and the group is awaiting Leader funding to come on-stream later this year.
Mr Staunton said most of the lambs in the area would otherwise be exported to France so this will see the produce stay local.
“It has been a learning curve over the last eight to nine months and we still have a few hurdles to cross,” added the Tourmakeady farmer, who has been the driving force behind many of the producer groups that have pooled resources to form the Lake District Sheep Producers. Mr Staunton believes that direct selling could almost double the returns, to €8 per kilo compared to present factory quotes of €4.40.
But Gerry Murphy adds a note of caution, warning that it may only add ten per cent to overall returns on sheep sold through the group.
“There are plans to contract out as much as possible, including the collection, killing and processing and they have already travelled to Wales to look at similar initiatives there. The first phase of the project will be targeted at restaurants within 20 miles of the group’s new office in Ballinrobe. We’re not afraid of failure because necessity to make sheep farming viable again overrides any fear that we may have,” remarked Gerry Murphy.
