European butter price takes a hit

The price for European butter at the Dutch Dairy Board auction took a nasty hit on Wednesday, with a drop of €360/t, taking the price down to €6,460, its lowest for over a year.

Butter price has fallen consistently over the summer, having peaked in early June at €7,400/t. However, other commodities remain much more stable, with whole milk powder down just €60/t at €4,040/t, while skim was unchanged at €2,340/t.

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At the New Zealand Global Dairy Trade auction on Tuesday, there was also some downward pressure, with the overall index falling 4.3%.

Lamb prices in NI cut by 30p/kg

Factories in NI have cut lambs prices by 20-30p/kg this week, leaving base prices at 650p/kg.

Reports suggest that 660p/kg is available for regular suppliers at some plants and NI lambs have been exported to the Republic for slaughter at the same price.

When compared to prices of 670-680p/kg last week, a 30p/kg cut equates to £6.30 coming off the value of a 21kg carcase.

Write to your MP on IHT, urges UFU

The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) has urged farmers to write to their MPs as part of a new campaign against proposed changes to agricultural and business property relief from inheritance tax.

Those changes will come into law by way of a Finance Bill going through Westminster this autumn. However, there is still an opportunity for amendments to be made to the legislation and according to UFU President William Irvine it is important to show the Treasury that farmers are not giving up.

There are guidelines on how to construct a letter on the UFU website (www.ufuni.org), but each letter should be different.

“It cannot be a copy and paste job. We need to leave it all on the page, the heartache, distress, worry, the generational graft that our families have poured into the land,” said Irvine.

He added that farmers should also ask their MPs to forward their letter to the Treasury for an appropriate response.

“I am urging every farmer in NI to show your support for this campaign as we are getting dangerously close to the deadline. Treasury need to hear it from the people affected,” said Irvine.

Beef GrassCheck walk in Eskra

A GrassCheck beef farm walk will be held on the farm of Oliver McKenna, Eskra, Co Tyrone on 11 September at 7pm.

The suckler herd of approximately 40 cows is split between Spring and Autumn calving. Oliver also has an ABP blade calf rearing house and rears up to 140 calves at a time with 3 to 4 crops of calves put through the house annually.

The theme of the farm walk will be grazing management into the autumn.