Quality payment system for cattle hailed by producers and processors

A NEW quality payment system for cattle to be introduced for steers and heifers at meat factories on Monday has been hailed as a major advance by processors and as a positive step forward by producers.

Meat Industry Ireland, representing processors, said the payment system will stimulate the production of greater numbers of higher quality cattle. The IFA said it will reward farmers for quality.

The new structure follows detailed discussions over many months between the IFA and the meat industry group and is based on detailed scientific research carried out by Dr Michael Drennan, Teagasc Grange.

Meat Industry Ireland director Cormac Healy said it is a major advance in rewarding beef producers for quality cattle that meet marketplace requirements. It is building on the investment in automated grading technology by Irish processors.

“Ireland will now be the only country in the EU with a quality payment system based on automated grading technology which delivers an objective, consistent and uniform assessment of carcase grade,” he said.

Mr Healy said it is estimated that for every one sub-class improvement in the grade profile of cattle under the new payment system, the additional benefit to beef producers will be some €25 million, with further gains accruing.

There is no benefit to either producers or processors from over-fat cattle. It costs producers dearly to put it on and increases the labour cost for processors to remove it, he said.

Mr Healy said the new payment system puts the beef sector on a better footing for 2010 and beyond. It improves the market-signalling to producers and is a significant endorsement of the importance of the suckler herd to the development of exports to the EU premium markets.

IFA president Padraig Walshe said the new structure is a significant move away from the current flat-based pricing system which had failed to adequately reward producers for quality.

Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association president Malcolm Thompson said the new pricing grid will not work without substantial cattle price increases.