Sun puts beef on my bullocks
I’m standing in the yard in the pouring rain. It’s the middle of July, the middle of the summer. The gutters on the shed cascade full into the down pipes, it’s been raining heavily on and off for days. Damn it, I’m sure I’ve seen this before!
All jokes aside, this isn’t how our summer is supposed to be. Ground conditions are just about holding up, except in the heavier fields. I put seventy 500 to 550 kg bullocks into a six field block of 34 acres of after-grass — two bundles of 35 each, about 10 days ago. I took the last of them out of it yesterday.
Although the fields are tidily grazed, the “cut” in the ground I mentioned last week has now become more pronounced, and is a cause for concern. I had to do without this block and more besides last year, because of the weather, and I don’t need a repeat of that.
Some reckon that the only way to fatten cattle is with grass, and that sunshine doesn’t really matter that much. Well, my experience is that sunshine and water put beef on a bullock’s back better than endless swards of water-saturated grass. When I moved my bigger 650 to 700 kg animals, late last week, I thought some had been in better order two and a half weeks ago. Back then, grass was a little tight, but they looked fitter. Don’t get me wrong, they are still in good order, but experience is the only teacher, and it’s telling me that the benefits of any future price rise could be very easily overridden by the effects of bad weather — so its time to move them on.
I’ve picked 20, a number of R grade Limousins and Herefords, as well as four Friesian crosses. They’re tall, very tall, not the recommended conformation, but they form part of the mix, and their reduced purchase price offered as good an opportunity to make a profit as anything else.
My plans to sell have been delayed because I need to retag one animal. The lady on the phone at Mulinhone Co-op said “€7.50, including postage and packaging”. That’s one ear only, by the way, but I was told I can pay by credit card! Is that supposed to be a bonus?
Anyway, all is in train except to negotiate a price and terms of sale. This means a resumption of the arguments with factory bosses over flat pricing versus the QPS grid. More déjà vu!
On that note, it is with astonishment that I hear that the Irish Cattle and Sheepfarmers Association have suspended Peter Fox and Tom Egan, chairman and vice chairman of their national beef committee, for their stance on the grading machines and QPS.
I fear their suspension will impact negatively on the price of cattle, because public opposition to the grid was forcing some processors to pay off the grid, and forcing those on the grid to pay better than quoted, for fear of losing stock. Doubtless we will hear more of this story in time, but for now I believe that the voice of beef finishers has been lessened by ICSA’s actions against these two men.
