Irish Hereford Prime was set up in 1997 by progressive Hereford breeders and commercial Hereford X producers in order to successfully market their beef and bring their product to more consumers. Currently Irish Hereford Prime has over 2,500 members all dedicated to producing top quality Hereford cattle for the beef industry.

With the top bonuses offered by Irish Hereford Prime for HEX cattle you can ultimately earn €111 extra on a 300kg carcass. Irish Hereford Prime primarily works in conjunction with ABP and Pallas Foods to form a dedicated supply chain to market and deliver beef of superior eating quality to restaurants around the world.

Coming from a pedigree Hereford background, I was extremely interested to work with a company that promotes the breed and work with like-minded farmers who have a passion for Herefords. My week began with a trip to the ABP factory in Nenagh. This was a very interesting experience as I was given a full tour of the factory and I saw the complete process from the animals being slaughtered right through to the packaging process of the meat.

Although not all stages were enjoyable to see, it was a wonderful opportunity to see what actually happens behind the scenes. It was very interesting to see the final carcass and I was blown away by the differences between a P grade carcass and a U grade. I also got to see the different cuts of meat and saw first hand the process of packaging the raw carcass into the various different meat products.

Farmers

Following this I had the opportunity to visit some of the farmers that are part of the Irish Hereford Prime producer group. I spent a day travelling around Cork and Tipperary meeting with farmers and interviewing them on why they choose the Hereford breed.

The consensus from my visits was that the popularity of the Hereford breed is due to their docile nature, ease of calving, shorter gestation and ease of management. All of the farmers I visited were dairy farmers who produced crossbred bullocks and heifers. I got to see the full life cycle of a crossbred animal on their farms from birth right up to slaughter.

I really enjoyed meeting the different farmers and getting a real insight into the beef finishing system. As I come from a pedigree background it was educational to see how commercial systems differ to our own.

In addition to the fieldwork of visiting the Irish Hereford Prime producers, I also compiled profiles of each farmer for the company’s website to promote their bonus scheme and to attract more farmers to use Hereford bulls in their herds. This provided me with a good balance between admin and practical work and so I got to experience all aspects of the company.

I am spending another two weeks with Irish Hereford Prime and I hope to visit some of the five star restaurants that use the premium beef on their menu next week.

Susan Dudley is a third year student, currently completely a degree in Agricultural Science in University College Dublin. As part of her studies, she must undertake a number of professional work placements over the course of 20 weeks. Read more of Susan's updates by clicking here