Work to upgrade NI’s livestock traceability system APHIS so that marts will be able to electronically receive information on cattle residencies could take up to six months, Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill has revealed.

Answering questions in the Assembly chamber this week, the Minister said that DARD will try to work with marts in the meantime to provide them with a physical copy of the information that they need.

Individual herdkeepers can also receive a report from their local DARD direct office, which will list all animals in their herd, and their full movement history.

On the wider issue of cattle penalties, the Minister said that she hoped that meat plants would agree to reduce penalties to the end of the year on cattle with more than four farm residencies. However, given that the transfer of information on cattle residencies from APHIS to marts requires a certain amount of human intervention, it is inevitable that some mistakes will happen. 

One farmer who contacted the Irish Farmers Journal said that an animal he bought last week was displayed as having only one farm residency, but when he got it home he realised that it had already been on three farms. He had hoped to move the animal on to another party.

The beef trade this week has picked up with most factories quoting a base of 320p/kg, but stronger sellers able to work off a base of 330p/kg for U3 cattle. Tighter numbers in Britain have seen base quotes steadily increasing in recent weeks, with 340p/kg to 345p/kg for R4s generally on offer. 

There are also reports of renewed enthusiasm from exporters to take finished cattle from here to Britain for slaughter, particularly from late October on.