Factories have been called on to work with farmers in order to steady the beef trade by IFA livestock chair Brendan Golden.

He said factories had a major responsibility not to pull prices and undermine the trade. Farmers were also urged not to move any under-finished cattle.

“With orderly marketing, cattle supplies are expected to tighten over the next number of weeks and this should help steady the trade,” he said.

The IFA is also seeking the suspension of all non-EU beef imports, particularly those from South American countries which “fail to meet EU standards”.

Marts

Golden said the IFA was also working with marts and the Department of Agriculture to put an alternative in to ringside cattle sales.

IFA president Tim Cullinan has spoken directly with Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed on the matter.

Cullinan said farmers needed safe trading arrangements to allow the farm-to-farm trading of cattle and sheep. Marts had a vital role to play in through-payment security and use of their weighing facilities for consignments of cattle without the need for groups of people to congregate, he said.

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Factories called on not to pull prices

While efforts continue to devise alternative trading arrangements to marts, factories have been called on to work with farmers to steady the beef trade.