With the festivities of Christmas and the New Year at an end, it’s time to start planning for 2015. First item on the agenda is to get the 2014 accounts complete and carry out a full review of the financial performance of the farm for the past year.

This is something I try to complete as early as possible in January so any problems can be identified early and a budget for the coming year can be prepared. Figures are then entered to the Teagasc Profit Monitor so the performance of the farm can be compared against other suckler and beef farms and in particular farms in the BETTER Farm programme.

A budget is difficult in any farming enterprise given the volatility in the price of items such as fertilizer and feed. However, the most volatile and uncertain figures are the sales price achievable for cattle being produced on the farm. We’ll leave this figure blank for the moment.

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Beef farmers will remember 2014 as the year of the beef crisis and protests at the factory gates. Finally, after months of negotiations, an agreement was reached at the last session of the Beef Forum in November 2014. To me, it seemed that the wording of a document was agreed, however many of the issues required further discussion and clarification.

Bonus payments

So on 31 December it was announced that farmers would receive €3 per head bonus payment for all steers and heifers over 30 months, but under 36 months from Quality Assured farms. Yes €3 per head, I had to read it twice myself to be sure my eyes hadn’t failed over the Christmas.

So a heifer that is killed just under thirty months receives the full QA bonus, of 12c/kg, and a heifer that is just one day over thirty months receives €3. A difference of about €40 per head on two very similar animals.

Separate QA bonus from the Quality Payment System

Surely the time has come to separate the QA bonus from the Quality Payment System (QPS). Farmers who enter the quality assurance scheme should be rewarded for the time and effort of ensuring that the farm is quality assured and all stock coming from a quality assured farm receiving a meaningful price bonus. The quality payment grid should then be renegotiated to ensure farmers are encouraged and more importantly rewarded for producing cattle to the specifications that the meat processors require.

As a first step, can I suggest that all meat factories print on the back of the factory remittance dockets the quality payment grid, with a shaded area indicating the type of animal required and the bonus available for producing that animal.

Also, list in clear detail requirements such as age, movements and weight restrictions being applied so all farmers are fully up to date with the latest requirements.

Maybe if some of the above ideas are implemented the budget will have less blanks and be closer to the final outcome at the end of 2015.