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Carcase quality is affected by the surge in dairy beef, according to Paul Nolan, the group general manager with Dawn Meats, who addressed young farmers at the Offaly Macra na Feirme agri-seminar in Tullamore on 5 December.
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Nolan said: “The market is probably at its peak right now and I suppose the fact that prices have actually hardened is proof that we’re handling the increase at the moment.
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"The projections for next year are that the kill numbers will increase slightly, but the pattern might not be the same.
"Whether we’ll hit a consistent run of 40,000 next year I’m not sure at this stage.”
The increase in the national dairy herd has also been attributed to a decrease in overall carcase weight. Nolan does not believe, however, that the introduction of a minimum carcase weight is necessary.
He said that choosing terminal beef sires was something the dairy industry needed to start thinking of.
“We can’t restrict what bulls people are going to use, but at the moment Angus bulls are in the majority in dairy herds.
“It’s a classic example where yes it ticks the box for early gestation and easy calving, but there is within the Angus breed strong terminal sires as well and that’s something that we haven’t latched on to yet and we need to.”
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