Ireland’s beef factories have been called on to adjust bonus payments to pay farmers for finishing cattle earlier by the Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC).

It is one of a number of key recommendations contained in a review of the farming and land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) sectors.

The early finishing of livestock has the potential to deliver significant emissions reductions, the CCAC said.

“The council urges meat processors to reconfigure the carcase specification bonus payment scheme to favour animals finished at an earlier age,” it added.

Set target

The Climate Action Plan 2024 has set a target of reducing the age at finishing to 24 months by 2025, with the most recent analysis from the Department of Agriculture indicating that the average age of finishing in 2023 was 28.2 months for bullocks and 26.8 months for heifers.

The CCAC said that the Department and Teagasc have a key role in the communication and knowledge transfer required to achieve the target of reducing the age of finishing, and hence lower lifetime emissions.

“The industry, especially meat processors, also has an important role in creating the necessary market signal to farmers to reduce the age of finishing.

“In general, younger animals have lower levels of carcase fat, an attribute that the market incentivises.

However, the current bonus payment scheme related to carcase fat specifications is not fully aligned with the target of finishing at an earlier age,” the CCAC said in its review.

Farmers ensure that the majority of animals processed fall within the bonus bands on the current classifcation system, it said. “Lowering and tightening the bands would be likely to encourage farmers to finish animals earlier.

Payment scheme

The council urges the private sector to reconfigure the bonus payment scheme to favour finishing at an earlier age.”

The council has signalled real concern about Ireland’s forestry sector, with forests becoming a source of emissions rather than a carbon sink due to a large proportion of the national forest estate approaching harvesting age, while afforestation rates have been insufficient to balance the removal of stored carbon.

Marie Donnelly, chair of the CCAC said that the Government needs to communicate the opportunities and incentivise proven measures for farmers, suppliers and the wider industry.

“Key areas of impactful gains include the accelerated roll-out of protected urea fertiliser, increased uptake of methane-reducing feed and manure additives and also the early finishing of livestock,” she said.