I move:—
That, in view of the grave danger of a shortage of animal feeding-stuffs in many areas during the coming winter and early spring as a result of the almost complete loss of the hay crop and in order to prevent great suffering to animals and serious loss to farmers, Dáil Éireann requests the Government to take immediate and adequate steps to deal with the situation—standing in the names of Deputies Oliver J. Flanagan, Patrick Cogan, Patrick O'Reilly, John Flynn, Peadar Cowan and myself.
We are doing this in the hope of securing a full understanding on the part of the Government of the serious situation arising from bad weather conditions during the harvest which now confronts if not the whole country at least sections of the country. I probably am not in the position to speak in a general way of the shortage of hay for feeding purposes with that intimate knowledge required to bring home effectively the seriousness of the situation.
I speak of certain areas of whose condition I am personally aware. I speak with full sense of responsibility and with intimate knowledge, and I assert that the Department of Agriculture, as the agent of the Government in this respect, have a serious problem to face, a problem which they should tackle in all seriousness, not in any light mood and not treating it merely as a casual happening, but as a serious national problem.
It would be quite wrong to assert in a general way that there was such a complete failure of the hay harvest last summer that the Government would be warranted in making special provision in the way of providing hay for all the cattle in the country at present. I am satisfied from reports I have got and from my own knowledge that there are many districts where the hay situation, possibly because of more favourable conditions, better husbandry or better family help, is not at all too serious, but there are other districts where, due to climatic conditions and other circumstances, the situation has become really serious and vital. This situation is not confined to a small number of people. A comparatively large number are affected, people mainly of the small farming class who are engaged primarily in the foundation of all things agricultural, milk production. They are suppliers of milk to the creameries and the supply of milk to creameries, as all Governments and all scientists know, is the foundation of our agricultural economy. If we allow these small farmers to suffer, through no fault of their own, a substantial loss in cattle at this juncture, the reaction must be felt not merely this year, but next year and in subsequent years.
The farmer who produces milk for supply to creameries is a man who receives least of all as reward for his dairying operation. In many cases, he does it on the poorest of land. He depends on the separated milk from the creamery for the feeding of his pigs and his fowl, and very often the separated milk returns and forms part of the milk supply of his own children. That may seem a harsh thing to say but it is none the less true. Such is the economy of the small farmer for whom I am speaking. His land is poor land and is almost invariably situated in areas where climatic conditions are of the worst, and accordingly, in adverse weather conditions such as those prevailing during the recent harvest, he suffers much more than does the farmer operating in better climatic conditions.
In addition to the price which he receives for his milk, which is his principal economy, he sells his calves at the age of six to 12 months and, out of the sale of these calves, he pays his current debts—shopkeeper, rates, rent, and such incidental debts, which must be paid in cash. He has been confronted with a situation for the past two or three months in which his cattle are not marketable. No doubt, one can look at the Dublin Cattle Market returns and see that such high prices were never before recorded, but that does not in the smallest way affect the small farmers with three and four calves of six months of age. There is no market for their product and when they take them to the fair, there is nobody to buy them. These are the people who, in the main, supply the graziers in the Midlands and fattening lands with the young stock from which the fat cattle are ultimately produced and which constitute our greatest national exportable asset.
I will pay the tribute to the Minister and his Department that in recent months they have made the utmost efforts, involving the State in fairly heavy expenditure, I have no doubt, to deal with what has become an endemic catastrophe amongst our cattle population, abortion, which results in the non-production of calves annually. The Minister has been well in advance of any of his predecessors in so far as he has made available to the affected districts a veterinary service which has done its utmost to eliminate that disease. The Minister must have felt justified in incurring that expenditure and must have felt that it would render a national service in the long run, but where does his responsibility in the matter of the emergency situation which this present year has produced come in?
He has a responsibility in the matter of the preservation of the young cattle who have no hay feeding and must ultimately die of starvation to provide hay or other feeding for the cows which will be bearing calves next spring. If these young cattle are allowed to starve, it will mean that so many more deaths will occur among our foundation stock. Many of these small farmers have over the years established with great care and attention a foundation stock of cows which are excellent, and through them, an excellent stock of cattle has been produced. Let one in three of these die of starvation, even in the limited areas where starvation is confronting them unless provision is made to ameliorate conditions there, and let two out of three of the young stock die, and there is a national loss. What is the sense of spending money, lavishly, but, as I say, rightly, in trying to eliminate this endemic disease of abortion and, at the same time, allowing the produce of these cows to die because an emergency has arisen, due to weather conditions, which must result in serious losses amongst that stock?
Furthermore, for many years past our Governments here have realised the importance of our cattle industry. They have provided premiums so that bulls of the highest standard would be available for the improvement of our cattle population. They have made it an offence for a farmer to keep any other type of bull. In some cases that has been a cause of hardship to farmers, but the point is that it has cost the State a good deal of money. I think it was well spent money.
In view of that, I suggest that the present emergency, one that probably occurs in ten or 20 years, should receive the immediate attention of the Minister. Otherwise, a great part of the valuable stock produced in the circumstances I have described will die of starvation. There is no reason why that should be so because, I think, that if an analysis is made of the quantity of fodder available over the whole of the Republic, sufficient hay will be found to feed the cattle in those districts where there is a scarcity of it. The districts which need it should have the surplus hay that is available supplied to them.
There is no use in saying that it is the farmer's job to look after his cattle and to feed them. It is, of course, his job, but if nature prevents him from doing that, then I suggest it is the duty of the State to do it. It should also do it from the humane point of view. If a farmer allows his cattle to starve he is prosecuted and brought to court. If the State allows cattle to starve without taking due precaution to prevent such an occurrence, why should it not be brought into court? If a farmer allows his cattle to wander, without making due provision for them, he renders himself liable to a prosecution.
Will the Minister say under what heading he can refuse to take action at this juncture? He must know what the position is. He can confirm what I have said, because he has his agents all over the country. There are districts at present in which there is not sufficient hay to feed and keep alive hundreds and thousands of cattle. The individual farmer is not in a position to make necessary provision for feeding them. May I, by way of illustration, quote for the Minister what the position is across the Border? Generally speaking it is worse in the north than it is in the south. But there the Government have taken action to deal with the situation, and so have the people there through their creameries and co-operative societies. They have listed the areas in which a surplus supply of hay is available. The farmers in need of supplies place their orders for them. They are aided by the Government, and arrangements have been made for the movement of surplus hay to the districts which need it.
I understand the Northern Government have gone so far as to arrange for the import of hay from Scotland and Holland. If that is the position across the Border where conditions are somewhat similar to the districts that I am concerned with, is it not justifiable to ask that some effort should be made by the Dáil to help our people who are without supplies of hay for their cattle? We are supposed to be more in touch with our people than the Government in the Six Counties is with its people. Therefore, why should not some similar effort be made here to deal with this problem and have arrangements made for the transfer of surplus supplies of hay to the districts in need of it? The Minister has an organisation in every county in the Republic. Through his officials, he can get particulars from each district where surplus fodder exists, and so have it transferred to the areas where it is needed.
I was in a district on the western seaboard six weeks ago, where I saw £20 a ton asked for hay That is an outrageous price. Even at that price, how could a farmer living 20 or 30 miles away from where it is available get in touch with the person who had it and how could he transport it? Where would he find the cash to enable him to meet his feeding requirements? An ordinary cow will consume from two to three tons of hay in the year. There are very few of those farmers that I speak of who could afford to pay £40 or £60 for the quantity of hay they would require. In an emergency such as this would the Minister not consider it his duty to fix the price at which hay should be sold, and, further, arrange for its transport so as to make the feeding economical in the case of people in necessitous districts? To meet the emergency situation that exists some co-ordinated effort will have to be made.
I do not want to exaggerate the position or to use it politically in the smallest way. I am speaking seriously on this matter. I am charging the Minister with responsibility for making such arrangements as will bring fodder into those districts where none exists at the moment, and of having it placed at the disposal of farmers at a reasonable price. That may require a subsidy. We must remember that cattle, poultry and milk production are being subsidised at the moment. If we are prepared to subsidise the production of cattle why, in the emergency that now exists, should we allow those cattle to be destroyed by our failure to provide the feeding for them?
There is no use in the Minister telling me that he can supply all the maize meal, oilcake and other feeding stuffs that farmers may require for the feeding of their cattle. It would cost 30/- a week for maize meal to feed a cow if she has no other rations. That is the price of one cwt. of maize meal or its equivalent. What is that going to cost a farmer for 40 weeks? Even if a farmer were willing to do that, is he to be asked to ruin himself? If he has not credit he will not get money to buy the maize meal for the period he would require it.
I suggest that the situation which this emergency has created calls for some kind of Government organisation to deal with it, and that is all that I am asking in this motion. I assert that in no circumstances will the Minister be able to clear himself by any theoretical proposals such as that he has this scheme and that or this and that method available to meet the situation. The present situation cannot be attributed to what is called the lazy farmer. It is due to weather conditions over which the farmer has no control. The position may be localised in this way, that in some districts local conditions are worse than they are in others, but the position, generally speaking, is bad. If the Minister is prepared to ask this House, as he has asked it, for a big expenditure for developing and improving land, and more power to him for doing it, he is surely short-sighted if he does not at a critical moment like this step in and help to retrieve some of the loss which farmers are bound to sustain owing to weather conditions which have been abnormal and which may not occur again for many years.
I am not putting this case to the Minister with a view to placing him at a disadvantage. No one blames the Minister for the weather conditions and the bad harvest results, but it is due to him to save a section of the community from utter ruin in many cases. If an ordinary small farmer loses three cows and three calves, it is a national loss. That man will be out of production of milk for the coming season. He will be out of the production of young store cattle for the coming season. There will consequently be a smaller supply of milk, butter and store cattle.
In the spring when the grazier goes to buy store cattle he will realise that there are fewer suitable cattle available for him. It will put the small farmer in a position where he will be out of business for years. I assert that it is the duty of the Minister to step in and provide a plan for dealing with this matter. He is very good at providing plans. I want a practical one in this case, not a theoretical one. It is his duty as Minister to deal with a situation that is of such wide national importance as this one, in which there may be the danger of a shortage of fodder. I ask him to discharge his duty and tell us what he proposes doing.
