A beef finisher who brought cattle to a factory in Leinster this week contacted the Irish Farmers Journal to tell his story, on condition that he remain anonymous.
He described himself as a large-scale beef finisher who buys weanlings, stores and finishing cattle on a weekly basis and also sells cattle for slaughter on a weekly basis.
He does not support the factory gate picket and says the Beef Plan Movement does not represent him.
“The Beef Plan Movement do not represent beef finishing farmers who supply factories,” he said.
“That is evident by the fact that the demand to get cattle in the factory gates since the protest began is so high. These are not because of so-called 'sweetheart' deals being bandied about by the movement, but because genuine farmers wish to sell their cattle when they are fit, coming to 30 months or purely because they need the money to trade and pay bills.”
“The people at these pickets are, in a majority, suckler farmers or people close to them, with a handful of smaller finishers who don’t solely depend on the factory as a sale point for their cattle,” the finisher said.
“I agree that suckler farmers need a fair price for their weanlings to survive and fully support them in this.”
Feedlot herds
As the owner of a Department of Agriculture designated feedlot herd, he objects to herds like his being lumped into the same category as factory-owned feedlots.
“There are three factory feedlots in the country run by the three leading beef processors. There are also genuine family farms who farm with closed herds or slaughter-only herds which operate these due to TB restrictions from the Department of Agriculture.
“These can be also called ‘feedlots’ for administration purposes but are a far cry from the operations that the factories run, so I think it both unfair and insulting to long-standing and proud beef finishers to be scorned by fellow farmers stating, ‘Here comes another load of factory feedlot cattle' when, in fact, this is untrue,” the finisher said.
“Those very same suckler farmers are all too glad to sell their animals privately to these closed herds when they fall into TB restrictions and they have no other outlet for their animals,” he said.
Future
The finisher fears for what will happen if or when the protests come to an end.
"Do the Beef Plan not realise the cattle that are being turned away from the factory gates every day will just cause a build up of cattle to be killed around the country?” he asked.
Read more
Torrential rainfall not dampening Beef Plan spirit in Athleague
Watch: day seven of the Beef Plan protest in Ballyjamesduff
Independent mediator needed to break factory deadlock - Fine Gael senator
A beef finisher who brought cattle to a factory in Leinster this week contacted the Irish Farmers Journal to tell his story, on condition that he remain anonymous.
He described himself as a large-scale beef finisher who buys weanlings, stores and finishing cattle on a weekly basis and also sells cattle for slaughter on a weekly basis.
He does not support the factory gate picket and says the Beef Plan Movement does not represent him.
“The Beef Plan Movement do not represent beef finishing farmers who supply factories,” he said.
“That is evident by the fact that the demand to get cattle in the factory gates since the protest began is so high. These are not because of so-called 'sweetheart' deals being bandied about by the movement, but because genuine farmers wish to sell their cattle when they are fit, coming to 30 months or purely because they need the money to trade and pay bills.”
“The people at these pickets are, in a majority, suckler farmers or people close to them, with a handful of smaller finishers who don’t solely depend on the factory as a sale point for their cattle,” the finisher said.
“I agree that suckler farmers need a fair price for their weanlings to survive and fully support them in this.”
Feedlot herds
As the owner of a Department of Agriculture designated feedlot herd, he objects to herds like his being lumped into the same category as factory-owned feedlots.
“There are three factory feedlots in the country run by the three leading beef processors. There are also genuine family farms who farm with closed herds or slaughter-only herds which operate these due to TB restrictions from the Department of Agriculture.
“These can be also called ‘feedlots’ for administration purposes but are a far cry from the operations that the factories run, so I think it both unfair and insulting to long-standing and proud beef finishers to be scorned by fellow farmers stating, ‘Here comes another load of factory feedlot cattle' when, in fact, this is untrue,” the finisher said.
“Those very same suckler farmers are all too glad to sell their animals privately to these closed herds when they fall into TB restrictions and they have no other outlet for their animals,” he said.
Future
The finisher fears for what will happen if or when the protests come to an end.
"Do the Beef Plan not realise the cattle that are being turned away from the factory gates every day will just cause a build up of cattle to be killed around the country?” he asked.
Read more
Torrential rainfall not dampening Beef Plan spirit in Athleague
Watch: day seven of the Beef Plan protest in Ballyjamesduff
Independent mediator needed to break factory deadlock - Fine Gael senator
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