By early 2011, the seven major slaughter plants in NI all had mechanical (or VIA) grading systems installed, and at the end of March 2011, they moved exclusively to mechanical grading of beef carcases.

That meant the end for an independent system of manual grading provided by the Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC) and also heralded a new 15-point classification system for both fat and conformation.

At the time, the new grading system took a considerable amount of time to bed in. Technical issues in a number of plants left DARD inspectors with little option but to insist that some machines were switched off until they were assessed by the manufacturer.

Farmers also complained of erroneous grades being put on their cattle, although a machine not working accurately was sometimes also to the detriment of the factory as well as the farmer. In hindsight, there should have been a longer lead-in period before switching over exclusively to mechanical grading.

It was also widely accepted at the time that the new system would introduce a tighter grading standard in NI. In the past, the ‘‘benefit of the doubt’’ on borderline cases probably went to the farmer. For example, what might have been described as a ‘‘good R’’ may have slipped into a U-grade, but under an objective mechanical grading system it is classified as an R+.

The tighter grading standard was quickly apparent and in the first year the percentage of prime cattle classified as U-grades slipped from 22.9% in 2010/11 to 15.8% in 2011/12.

The percentages in other categories stayed mainly the same, expect for P grades which increased from 3.9 to 10.9%. Essentially, mechanical grading meant less Us and more Ps.

What is sometimes forgotten is that the change in grading results was broadly in-line with what was expected, and was built in to the new payment grid agreed by industry at the time. It compensated for tighter grading by imposing less severe cuts across some of the top grades.

The changeover to mechanical grading was designed to be cost-neutral.

However, the latest slaughter data for NI suggests that the number of cattle achieving U grades has gradually increased over the last five years.

Consistently each week the number of prime cattle achieving U-grades is now over 20%, which is similar to what it was in the last year of manual grading.

While DARD has made some minor changes to the settings of the mechanical grading machines over the years, it insists that the standard is basically the same as it was in 2011. Therefore, we must conclude that farmers have responded to the tighter grading standard by producing better conformation quality cattle through improved breeding and feeding management.

In November 2014, ABP decided to switch over to mechanical grading in all of its factories in Britain.

The reaction of farmers supplying into the factories has generally been fairly mixed, and in many ways similar to what happened in NI in 2011. A number of finishers have complained about the much tighter grading standard now in place compared with manual grading used previously.

In theory, the system of VIA grading now in place across ABP factories in Britain is exactly the same standard as that which applies in NI.

The certification test that was completed in NI at Foyle Meats in 2010 was a UK-wide test, so the underlying equations and data used to classify carcases in a factory in NI must be the same as those used in a factory in England.

In the Republic of Ireland, the first country in Europe to made widespread use of mechanical grading when manual graders were withdrawn from factories in 2004, the technology is the same, but the underlying equations are slightly different. This reflects a slightly different kill mix than the UK at the time of their test in 2003.

In 2013/14, authorities in the Republic of Ireland started a process to re-calibrate their machines based on the current bovine population. This has produced an updated set of equations, which are to be rolled out across all factories with VIA grading machines.

DARD checks 15,000 carcases per year

In the first year after the introduction of VIA, the Department is required to undertake at least six checks per quarter on each machine. Each check should assess at least 40 carcases.

After that, DARD is only required to complete a minimum of two checks per quarter (one check every six weeks). However, in NI, the Department continues to undertake six checks per quarter, and generally try to assess 80 carcases in each check. In the period from April 2014 to March 2015, DARD inspectors checked 14,984 carcases. However, if they wanted to do the bare minimum as per the legislation, it would equate to only 2,240 carcases.

Some might argue that DARD is over-enforcing, but on the other side there are plenty of farmers who would like to see a continual presence in meat factories checking the grading standard and also carcase dressing and trim at the weigh scale.

There are clear rules as to what factories can and cannot remove from a carcase before it is weighed, and enforcing these rules falls to DARD. Current checks relate to only 3.5% of the total kill.

There is an important balance to be struck between ensuring that standards are being applied properly and not over-regulating. Sometimes, rules can be more effectively applied by an inspector making a random visit as opposed to someone who is standing in the same factory day after day.

A summary of DARD checks on the seven major meat plants operating VIA (Foyle Campsie, Foyle Omagh, WD Meats, Dunbia, Linden Foods, ABP Lurgan and ABP Newry) continue to be published on the DARD website every two months. The latest results (for September/October 2015) are in Table 1.

They suggest that the VIA machines are all working well above the required standard (at least 600 points) when assessing both fat and conformation. Also, the figures would suggest that there is a high level of compliance in terms of carcase dressing standards, with all the factories averaging over 90% of carcases dressed correctly at the scale.

Taking these figures at face value, it would be easy for DARD and the meat factories to sit back and congratulate each other for doing a great job, and for the Department to reduce the inspection frequencies. But the rules are there to protect the livelihoods of farmers, and to bring some transparency into a process that also protects the integrity of local meat plants. It is in everyone’s interests that the rules are enforced through regular, unannounced inspections.

Very few outliers

At the time that VIA was introduced, it was expected that there could be a number of ‘‘outliers’’, ie grades that are more than one full class out (for example, an O= on a R+ or a fat class 4+ on a 3=).

In the end, the number of outliers found during DARD checks was actually much less than originally envisaged. Of 14,984 carcases checked by DARD between April 2014 and March 2015, the rate of outliers was only 0.02% for conformation grading (three carcases in 15,000) and 0.027% for fat classification (4 carcases in 15,000).

Where a farmer receives a VIA grade on an animal that they believe to be completely wrong, they should take it up with the meat plant in question.