At the recent Irish Grassland Association’s beef meeting, I was struck that all four farmer speakers (including myself) were in bull beef production. Yet, of the national beef output, only about 15% is produced as bulls. Theoretically, Ireland has no advantage in producing a meat derived from grain. With the majority of our starch and the vast bulk of our protein imported, grain prices are inevitably set by the imported price of the landed product.

Whether grain is used to produce poultry, pigs or beef, these are the unalterable facts. The steer beef difficulties are compounded by the banning of hormones and by the slow rate of genetic gain, especially compared with dairying.

While bull beef producers may be in the most technically efficient system possible under Irish conditions, the insistence on bulls being under 16 months in the majority of factories’ purchasing policies means that a high grain diet is an essential component of the system. It is fortunate that for bull beef markets, we are mainly in competition with European producers whose basic raw material is essentially dairy herd based. As is becoming increasingly apparent, the resultant carcase is more poorly conformed and has come from an animal that has grown much less efficiently than the product of our suckler herd.

France and Britain are the only other EU countries that have a significant proportion of their national cattle herds as sucklers and this is reflected in the prices paid for high-quality cattle and their beef on continental markets. However, the dilemma for Irish beef producers pondering their future is real.

The dependence of the sector on the basic farm payment is almost total. A system based on grazed grass has the potential to give a high margin per animal, but a low profit per acre. In most cases, the potential profit per acre is not sufficient to cover the basic fixed costs of a farm and provide a family living unless there are some special factors at work.

Efficiency

The ever-increasing efficiency of the pig and poultry sectors is putting continuous pressure on the real price of beef, while technical and genetic progress lags behind. The prospect of further imports, tariff free from South America, as well as Brexit, add to the foreboding.

While there are lots of problems, it is disappointing to see so little focused discussions on possible solutions. The scope for efficiency gains is real as the Teagasc/Irish Farmers Journal BETTER Farm Programme graphically demonstrated.

New markets such as China and Japan are opening up and we have seen Irish food and drink products command significant premiums on foreign markets. A real national effort to chart a sensible policy for the future of the sector would seem to be overdue. The Food Wise initiative had a clear sense of focus for the dairy sector. There was not the same on the numerically much more significant cattle and beef industries.

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