This is a subscriber-only article
The uncertainty surrounding trading arrangements between the UK and EU after Brexit is already having an impact on local meat processors, according to Conall Donnelly from the NI Meat Exporters’ Association (NIMEA).
Speaking at CAFRE Greenmount last week, Donnelly said that the possibility of a no-deal Brexit is affecting sales into the EU market well ahead of the UK leaving the EU.
“Customers in Europe are backing away a bit from buying in NI and the UK in general, because they don’t know in the second quarter of next year if we will be in that market. This will certainly hit home in the first quarter of next year.”
NIMEA has been lobbying on behalf of NI meat processors for a Brexit deal which sees the UK remain in the EU’s customs union and single market. Donnelly said that this would allow frictionless trade across the Irish border and Irish sea, would give factories access to EU migrant labour and would stop the UK importing cheap food as part of an independent trade policy.
The draft Brexit Withdrawal Agreement does not address issues with access to migrant labour and, potentially, does not stop the UK pursuing an independent trade policy in the long term. However, it does give NI processors access to markets in Britain and the EU.
Donnelly said that NIMEA members support the draft deal, as the only other alternative on the table at present is a no-deal Brexit.
“It’s a better option than no deal and it can put a stop to the ongoing damaging uncertainty,” he said.
During his presentation at the Healthy Cattle, Heathy Profits Conference, Donnelly also said that NI meat factories currently export 19% of their beef and 40% of their lamb to the EU, and most products would be subject to various WTO tariffs in a no-deal Brexit.
The conference heard that a large proportion of NI meat exports to the EU is offal, which has no WTO tariffs.
However, Donnelly pointed out that factories would likely still be frozen out of the EU market as the UK would have no regulatory approval on standards.
The movement of half of NI lambs to abattoirs in the Republic of Ireland for processing would also effectively stop with a hard Brexit. Donnelly claimed that NI processors would have the capacity to process all NI lambs if this happened, but selling the product would be the issue.
He said that the domestic UK market would be there for lamb, but there would be problems with seasonality.
Disease and mortality unchanged in decades
There has been no significant change in disease incidence and mortality rates in young cattle in NI over the past 30 to 40 years, delegates at the Healthy Cattle, Healthy Profits Conference were told last week.
Figures presented by Dr Barry McIlnerney from AFBI indicated that 3.4% of calves on NI farms die before one month of age, and 6.5% die before five months.
Results of post-mortems carried out by AFBI last year found that enteric infections (scour) led to over 40% of mortalities in calves up to one month old. Cryptosporidium and rotavirus were identified as the two main causes of diarrhoea in samples submitted to AFBI.
Respiratory diseases (mainly pneumonia) caused 14% of deaths in calves up to one month old and 8% of mortalities are due to nutritional conditions (usually caused by a lack of colostrum).
In calves between one to five months of age, respiratory diseases caused over 50% of deaths and 9% of mortalities are due to enteric infections.
In cattle aged six to 12 months , AFBI results show that just under 50% are due to respiratory diseases and around 12% are caused by clostridial infections, despite cheap and effective vaccines being available.
Aside from mortalities, Dr Barry McIlnerney pointed out that disease also has substantial costs associated with treatment and reduced performance in animals that survive.
The advice from AFBI scientists is to investigate illnesses and mortalities by submitting samples for diagnostic testing, and to get veterinary advice when acting on results, and on vaccinations, as part of a wider animal health plan.
Farmers should also maintain good levels of hygiene in houses and ensure calves get adequate colostrum within four hours.
Although colostrum quality varies significantly, an AFBI study found that feeding four litres as soon after birth as possible resulted in adequate immunity in 86% of calves.
McIlnerney said that low immunoglobin levels were more common in suckler calves than in dairy calves, even though dairy cows generally have lower-quality colostrum than sucklers. He added that this points to inadequate colostrum intakes and poor management on suckler farms.
Improving housing has visible herd health benefits
Incidents of scour and respiratory diseases on many NI farms are due to poor shed and hygiene design, livestock buildings consultant Jamie Robertson suggested at last week’s conference.
The University of Aberdeen researcher challenged farmers to assess their livestock buildings for five key factors: hygiene, moisture, fresh air, air speed and temperature. He said that the five factors interact with each other, and gave an example of a damp shed feeling colder than a dry one.
During his presentation at Greenmount, Robertson said that shed floors affected moisture levels in buildings and encouraged farmers to cut more channels in floors to take excess moisture away quickly.
Delegates were told that ventilation is key to removing pathogens and excess moisture from airspace in livestock buildings.
Robertson was critical of ventilation in most NI farm sheds, particularly with the prevalence of solid tin cladding. He suggested that pushing sheets of tin out from the top of walls can improve airflow significantly in most sheds.
He suggested that poor hygiene is still an issue on many farms and is a source of infection for livestock.
“I think you have surfaces that are difficult to clean. Make them easy to clean and add colour so that you can see when they are dirty. Epoxy resin paint costs £10/m2,” he added.
Robertson said that improvements to farm buildings should not be seen as an expense, but rather as an investment because it should lead to lower disease incidence and better animal performance.
He was also critical that livestock accommodation is usually built without input from designers and consultants about how to optimise shed design, particularly with ventilation.
“It’s a failure of the system that farmers are expected to design their own buildings,” he maintained.
SHARING OPTIONS: