Farmers fed up with grading system

MANY farmers are dissatisfied with the fat score classification under the new mechanical grading scheme operating in meat factories, according to Robin Smith, chairman of the ICSA’s beef committee.

Commenting on the first full week of mechanical grading at many of the beef export plants, Mr Smith said there appears to be general satisfaction with the conformation grades.

“However, there is general consensus that the new machines are getting it wrong on fat scores and this is penalising certain farmers who sell cattle under a tight specification“, he said.

Mr Smith said anomalies in the new system would have to be addressed by the Department of Agriculture and Food inspectorate through recalibration of machines at an early date.