Farmers need clarity on what cattle they should breed
It’s more of the same, because sudden changes in prices and carcase specifications have been commonplace since last autumn.
Meanwhile, difficulties in exporting live stores to Northern Ireland and Britain haven’t gone away.
And don’t mention bulls, or quality-assurance small print that could cost you a big-price penalty.
It could be rules on residency, or number of movements of cattle from farm to farm (there’s much else in the quality-assurance small print to trip you up). There’s also talk of proposing weight limits of 380kg for quality Continental suckler-herd animals.
Cattle farmers must be wondering what’s next, or what now constitutes the prime beef they can get top price (or what’s the top live export animal)?
That’s why ICSA, the specialist cattle-farmers’ organisation, as far back as last January, had to call on meat processors and Bord Bia to provide clarity on the future of the beef industry.
Because the average cattle farmer no longer knows what kind of cattle he should be breeding.
Some farmers say Belgian Blue, some say Aberdeen Angus, even though the breeds are at opposite ends of the production spectrum.
And many farmers are wondering if should they get out of a business that seems to have lost its way, especially when they could nearly earn as much on social welfare.
That beef-income assessment has come from ICSA, which has suggested that if there isn’t clarity on the way forward for cattle farmers by November 1, then all farmers, farm organisations, along with their marts should withdraw their co-operation with the Beef Quality Assurance Scheme.
It is ironic that there is more confusion among farmers now than before Agriculture Minister Coveney convened his industry round-table forums in April and June.
Minister Coveney is obviously worried, now that the latest price cuts for heavier cattle are being felt most acutely by some of our most commercial beef farmers.
He fears that if processors alienate these farmers, and do not give them time to adjust to changed market circumstances, the Irish beef sector cannot develop to its full potential.
So he has again called on farmers and processors to step up their engagement on issues of concern.
But, sooner or later, he may have to knock heads together to come up with a beef blueprint to ensure the right cattle will be bred on farms for the industry’s needs.
Every day that is delayed, farmers may be making the wrong decisions on what young breeding cattle to keep, what to sell, what kind of bull to buy, and the other day-to-day decisions that determine what kind of beef Ireland has to sell two years down the road.
