The negativity surrounding the suckler industry was cast aside in Elphin Mart in Roscommon on Friday night as in-calf heifers topped €5,000, writes Ciaran Moran.
Last week the question was, were supplies beginning to tighten? And if they were, how long would it take for factory bosses to up the ante?
The three IFA presidential candidates have said there must be upwards-only convergence of CAP payments to farmers in the future.
John Coughlan, a beef and dairy farmer from Buttevant in north Cork, is IFA Munster regional chairman.
While Angus Woods joined IFA in 1990 as an 18-year-old, it was 2011 before he became more involved in the organisation, rising to become the current Livestock chairman.
Tim Cullinan decided he wanted to do something different on the farm, in Toomevara, Tipperary, which had a small dairy herd, and he built a pig shed for 60 sows.
Sowings of winter cereals will struggle to top 90,000ha this year due to the disastrous planting conditions of the last few weeks, writes Declan O'Brien.
