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Cattle exporter Viastar will send a boatload of weanling heifers to Turkey next month, the company says.
The order is for Limousin and Charolais heifers aged up to 12 months and not weighing over 320kg. The heifers must be under 13 months of age on arrival in Turkey.
They will have to complete a one-month quarantine period in Viastar’s yard before departure to demonstrate they are free of disease.
A company spokesperson told the Irish Farmers Journal that half of the heifers have now been bought and the remainder will be acquired over the coming days. The boatload is scheduled to depart in the second half of October.
The Mallon-owned company is also planning to export weanling bulls to Turkey over the coming months, probably on a Turkish government contract, the spokesperson said.
A number of other Irish cattle exporters are in talks with Turkish importers about sending breeding heifers there. Turkish livestock importers are free to bring in heifers from approved EU member states, including Ireland.
Some Irish exporters are also hopeful that the Turkish government will lift its monopoly controls on the importation of feeder bulls the EU.
At present this trade is controlled by state-owned body ESK, which awards contracts based on price tenders. It sells the bulls on to farmers and feedlots across the country.
There is a shortage of beef in Turkey and farmers are getting over €8/kg carcase weight.
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