Newly elected ICSA beef chair, Edmund Graham has called for increased scrutiny on factory lines and Department of Agriculture monitoring of the kill line ahead of today’s beef forum .

"It’s unfair on farmers that there is no scrutiny on the kill line monitoring trim levels before the animal is weighed for payment," the Monaghan man said.

Graham says he has had numerous calls from farmers who have serious issues regarding the machine grading system.

"The fact that there is no appeals process is unacceptable. The technology that is being used is 20 year old technology and needs to be upgraded to today’s technology. The industry needs to start trial work on meat yield data and reward the suckler bred animal for higher meat yields.

"Good U and R grade animals are not being rewarded enough in the current system and there needs to be a bigger gap between dairy bred stock and suckler bred stock.

" The whole payment system needs to be overhauled and I would question the need for so many different prices in the QPS grid. A farmer sells their cattle and they haven’t a clue what price the animal will end up at in the current system.

"There is a huge issue around the whole fifth quarter and the farmer not getting paid for these offal products. Years ago this offal was all for the skip and now that factories are being paid for it, the farmer still isn’t."

The ICSA’s main demands at today’s meeting will be:

1. Inspectors are present on the kill line.

2. A fair price for beef finishers.

3. Upgrading of grading machine technology.

4. Overhaul of current payment system to reward quality cattle.

5. A more focused beef forum targeting specific issues.