Irish sheepmeat exports have followed a continuous upward curve in recent years and totalled 57,000t in 2017 with a value of €274m. When combined with domestic consumption, the Irish sheepmeat sector is worth in excess of €320m to the national economy. Achieving growth in export markets has been made possible by the national flock recovering to 2.64m ewes.

A major component of maintaining and building on recent performance is ensuring high levels of consumer satisfaction. This was the view highlighted by Bord Bia's Declan Fennell at Sheep 2018 Farm to Fork, which took place last Saturday in Teagasc Mellows Campus, Athenry, Co Galway.

Declan was speaking as part of a butchery demonstration carried out by Bord Bia and title sponsors of the event Irish Country Meats. The demonstration used three very different lamb carcases to show the importance of delivering in-spec lambs.

Lighter carcase

The first carcase demonstrated by Padraig Byrne, boning hall manager in ICM Camolin and butcher on the day, was a 16kg R2 carcase. There has been an increasing number of lighter carcases with a lower than desired cover of flesh processed in recent weeks. This is stemming from producers contending with drought conditions and poor grass supplies and a combination of producers selecting lambs at a lower liveweight to reduce grass demand and lambs achieving a much lower kill-out than expected.

Padraig Hegarty, operational manager in the ICM Navan plant, said that these lighter carcases are extremely challenging to deal with, as there is a limited outlet for small lean chops, which he says are virtually impossible to sell into the retail sector. He acknowledged difficulties at farm level when saying that these type of lambs should be retained for a further seven to eight weeks and supplemented with concentrates, if required, to bring lambs to ICM’s ideal carcase weight of 20kg.

Overweight carcase

The second lamb carcase presented was an overweight 24kg carcase with an excessive fat cover score of four. While this carcase will achieve a much better meat yield than the lighter carcase, Padraig says excessive fat doesn’t look well in terms of lamb presentation, with products appealing to the eye more eye-catching for consumers. This also fails to take into account the inefficiency at farm level in bringing lambs to a heavier carcase weight and receiving no payment for your efforts.

Ideal carcase

The last carcase on show was a 20kg R3 carcase, which Padraig says is the ideal carcase weight for ICM. He said such a carcase will deliver cut sizes that fit perfectly in retail packs, while a fat score of three was highlighted as stimulating the strongest consumer preference.

“It is a no-brainer what you are going to pick if you had your choice. This type of carcase is what we are looking to achieve in terms of marketability and selling more lambs,” Padraig said.