It’s a big advantage to processors to have cattle in their lairages the night before slaughter, so why aren’t farmers compensated for bringing them in?
hose supplying stock are providing their own labour and paying the transport costs on, say a Sunday evening, enabling the factories to begin their operations on time the following morning.
Farmers never seem to question whether those long hours ahead of slaughter in a strange place make a difference to kill-out weights.
Processors deduct 2pc from the kill-out weight for carcase shrinkage ahead of payment, yet the amount of shrinkage is directly related to the amount of fat cover on a carcase.
More fat cover means less shrinkage.
It’s odd that this 2pc deduction has never been meaningfully challenged by the farming community.
Another area that needs study is what the Government’s plan to reduce the average age of slaughter to 24 months would mean for the operation of the grading machines.
Changing the age profile so drastically will mean reduced carcase weights. The grading tolerances these machines operate to were originally calculated after extensive tests at the Dawn Meats plant at Midleton in 1999.
And what of the grid pricing system, the QPS, which is built on that data and Teagasc studies from that time that used a majority of suckler-bred stock?
How will reducing the age profile impact its results on conformation and fat score?
Factory quotes for stock remained largely unchanged last week, with both bullocks and heifers on bases of €4.80-4.85/kg, and those prices are expected to remain unchanged for this week.
However, with overall kill numbers continuing to run at 34-35,000 per week, some factories were reported to quoting bases below these levels, but I’ve had no reports of sellers accepting anything less than €4.80/kg.
Despite their continuing want for stock to fill orders ahead of the reopening of schools and universities, factories appear to have ended hopes that we could see bases return to €5.00/kg, with tops of €4.90/kg over the last 10 days.
Quotes for cull cows and young bulls have also solidified, with O grade culls ranging from €4.60/kg for coloured types to €4.40/kg for Friesians, while better P grades are on €4.30-4.40/kg.
On the young bull side it’s also largely as you were, with bases for those under 16 months at €4.80-4.85/kg mark; for those up to 24 months, U grades continue on €4.90-5.00/kg with Rs €4.80-4.85/kg.
Full loads do help negotiations, however.
In short factories have managed to get a tighter hold on proceedings through those continuing strong numbers and the fact that grass growth remains limited in many areas.
