With the Average Base Grade (ABG) hovering around €4.40c/kg on steers there are limited opportunities for driving more money from the market place.

As the factory league tables,publishedin the Irish Farmers Journal recently, demonstrated the market for beef cattle is becoming an ever more specialised business. It is no coincidence that the factories in the higher league positions are there on the basis of paying more money to get exactly what they want for their customers.

The highest profile examples of doing something different is found through the various Angus and Hereford schemes that operate in many factories. These pay an additional premium that varies depending on the time of year.

The extra pence per kilo are intended to compensate for the lack of carcase growth compared with mainstream continental beef breeds. Other attractions of these more “native “ breeds is the fact that they are usually quieter and can thrive on more marginal land, not requiring the same intensive feeding to finish.

They also mature early and have a cash flow attraction as well. The surge in calf registrations, up 20% for both Hereford and Angus, suggests that many farmers have identified this opportunity. Let us hope that the market can develop accordingly as numbers wise this extra 70,000 plus cattle represents the annual kill of a typical Irish factory.

Organic

A less travelled path but viable option is organic production. Last week at an open forum organised by Slaney Foods and the Leitrim Organic Co Op on the Castlewood organic farm in Co Laois, Slaney Foods bemoaned that the biggest problem in developing markets for organic beef was consistency of supply.

Unsurprisingly, the first quarter of the year is the most difficult as the high cost of organic meal and limited availability scares people off.

Conversion

Switching to organic farming is not an easy way to tack an extra 50c/kg on to the value of an R3 steer. As John Brennan, manager of the Leitrim Organic Farmers Co-Op, explained. Someone deciding to go organic today has to go through a two year conversion process and then wait until calves born form that point on grow into beef cattle which is at least a further 18 months and typically 24, 30 or even 36 months.

While there is the inevitable trade-off between more money for the cattle and less production, the Co Op would highlight the successes of clover based swards for producing natural nitrogen and driving grass growth. That of course only applies to the better, free draining land which excludes much of the Co-Ops immediate vicinity. However it has its place on the heavy soils too for production of the suckler bred calves on an extensive low input system.

Many farms in the catchment area of the Co Op have small numbers and individually they are not what would be described as economically significant.

Sales

The Co Op works hard to find markets and match buyers with sellers across a wide area. Six sales a year are held in the local Drumshanbo mart, three in spring and three more in the autumn.

Outside of these the Co Op provides a matchmaking service, putting buyers and sellers in contact with each other. On the subject of markets, we might expect organic produce would be the first casualty of recession. However John Brennan explained organic produce has had two defences which have helped organic production to come through the recession very well. The first is that the business by its nature is small an often the primary producer takes a direct route to market through mobile or farm shops. Secondly while food scares are a nightmare for the wider industry, they actually drive business for organic products.

Cynics

Like all niches, organic won’t become main stream but that does not make it any less worthy. It is a sector that is occupied by enthusiasts, not the flat earth brigade that cynics sometimes refer to. They bring passion for their produce combined with extremely hard work for around 50c/kg price premium and the best examples demonstrate how a lifestyle choice can be developed into a viable and worthy business.​