With my Irish Farmers Journal app downloaded and a list of exhibitors I wanted to see marked out, we set off early in the morning and headed south for Ratheniska.

My main priorities were to see the livestock exhibition being held by the Irish Farmers Journal and the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF), along with visiting the various breed societies to see their display of cattle.

On entering the site, the first stands that caught my eye had some fine new Jeeps and trailers on display. Next up were the various tractor makes and models, ranging from the large to the very large.

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The first livestock exhibition of the day kicked off and I had a front-row seat to see two fine Charolais bullocks enter the ring. Unfortunately for one, weighing 850kg and with a likely carcase weight of 470kg, he was deemed too heavy for current markets.

The British and European consumer wants a packet containing two steaks at a certain price point, not one large steak for roughly the same price. To see this explained in detail with both the live animal on display and the likely steak size, was a real eye opener to most people viewing the exhibition.

From this point, I proceeded to the Bord Bia stand where two carcases and their striploins were on display. As I gazed longingly through the glass window at the steak from the heavy carcase inside, I wondered aloud what time dinner was at. A fellow bystander, who could be described as a typical Irish shopper, said: “Would you look at the price of that steak. Sure how could you pay for that?” I didn’t expect the same message from the earlier exhibition to be following me around.

Having located a tasty beef sandwich, albeit a little smaller than my earlier viewing, I proceeded around the tents of the various breed societies viewing the cattle on display and picking up numerous pieces of literature detailing the benefits of each breed.

Next on the agenda was a visit to the Teagasc stand to pick up the organisation’s newly launched beef production system guidelines. This booklet outlines the various different production systems and management guidelines for achieving target market specifications. Again, it emphasised the point from earlier – producing what the market wants.

Now, laden down with books and brochures, it was time to head for home with one question on my mind: “Where did I park that car?”