This is a subscriber-only article
Six-thousand bulls and heifers will leave Ireland for Turkey in two boatloads next week.
On Tuesday, 1,800 heifers will be loaded at Foynes by John Hallissey. He will send another load this autumn and two other Irish exporters are in discussions with Turkish buyers about similar heifer contracts.
On Wednesday, Purcell Brothers will load 3,000 bulls at Waterford. The firm will fill two more boatloads over the coming weeks, completing its Turkish government contract.
Meanwhile, the Turkish farm minister has given the go-ahead to private importers to buy feeder bulls from South America – ending the monopoly of state body ESK. He said ESK will keep its monopoly on imports of weanling bulls from EU countries, including Ireland.
Purcell Brothers suggests this all means there will be no further shipments of bull weanlings from Ireland to ESK in 2017 after September.
But other Irish exporters are being told by Turkish buyers that the trade for young bulls will be freed up. If so, there could be more orders for Irish weanling bulls.
The IFA’s Angus Woods said he was hopeful that the Turkish government would award further weanling contracts for the autumn.
Weaning series: decision time on creep feed
SHARING OPTIONS: