Pig-slaughtering at plant may end
Speculation has been rife that the co-op plans to cease slaughtering in Mitchelstown and have it done instead at Glanbia plants in Roscrea, Co Tipperary, and Edenderry, Co Offaly.
Pig producers sought a meeting with Dairygold chief executive Jerry Henchy ahead of today's inaugural meeting of the co-op's new 60-member committee.
Producers held a meeting in Mitchelstown yesterday and later handed in a letter to the co-op protesting that decisions on the issue were being taken without due consultation.
IFA Pigs Committee chairman Pat O'Keeffe, a supplier of pigs to Galtee and a Dairygold shareholder, said producers will also lobby the co-op's committee members ahead of their meeting.
Dairygold declined to comment on what it described as speculation, but said it had invited Mr O'Keeffe and his pig committee colleagues to meet with chief executive Jerry Henchy and Dairygold top management this evening. Mr O'Keeffe said it was a bad sign if a farmer-owned co-op was getting out of pig slaughtering. This would reflect badly on the pig industry and would leave just two main processing companies in the sector in Ireland.
Local pig producers had helped develop the Galtee brand by supplying a quality product to the Mitchelstown plant, he said, saying any move to end the slaughter line would not be justified.
More than 200 people are employed on the slaughter line and in the boning hall at Galtee Meats, a key part of Mitchelstown's economic base for many years. Mr Henchy told at a series of meetings with farmer shareholders earlier this year that while it kills about 10,000 pigs a week, it only utilises 35% of the pig carcase in its Galtee rashers, ham and sausage products.
He said studies have shown that pig-processing costs in Ireland are significantly higher than in Denmark, where the leading pork and bacon supplier into the British market operates plants of 30,000 to 40,000 pigs a week capacity, obviously at a lower unit processing cost per pig, making their output more competitive.
Mr Henchy asked was there a case for a joint venture with one or other of Dairygold's neighbours, Glanbia or Dawn, and was there a case for the closure of Dairygold's slaughtering operations and simply buying in the 35% of the pig that it needs to supply its consumer foods brands.
He said Dairygold need not necessarily involve itself in pig processing as its only prime interest is to buy sufficient pig meats to satisfy its consumer brand requirement, a requirement which it will be happy to fulfil from a lower cost supplier should the opportunity present itself.
Cork East Labour Party TD Joe Sherlock said closure of the Galtee pig-slaughtering business in Mitchelstown would lead to job losses and would be a further blow to the local community.
