Mart and factory prices will be hit if the contentious TB proposals from the Department of Agriculture are approved, mart managers have warned.

Mart managers predicted that stringent controls on the movement and sale of cows will strangle competition and slash prices.

“The majority of dry cows are going through the rings now and are meeting phenomenal demand. If these proposed TB rules come to pass, they could potentially pull a lot of dry cows away from sales,” David Quinn of Carnew Mart said.

Worryingly, Quinn maintained that the proposed restrictions also had the potential to seriously hit beef prices given that cows constitute around a quarter of the overall kill.

“Put it this way, the factories love to see the stock being dropped at their gates and not have to go out to compete for them,” Quinn said.

“Reduced competition has implications for cow prices in the marts and beef prices in the factories,” he added.

The proposals around risk status could complicate the buying and selling of cattle in marts, Martin Ryan, manager of Thurles Mart, told the Irish Farmers Journal.

“I see the mart proposals as being very difficult to implement and there are a lot of questions that need to be answered.

Like what would happen to cattle bought by a farmer if they were not the correct TB status to be allowed enter their herd?

“There would need to be significant training and awareness for farmers before any of the mart measures are brought forward,” Ryan said.

Ray Doyle of ICOS pointed out that the country has to try and protect the 94% of herds that don’t have TB.

“If the proposal put forward becomes mandatory, it has the potential to affect the valuations of a certain category of animal. It blacklists certain herds from the point of view of selling breeding stock,” he said.