Beef farmers heard key messages from top-class advisers at the Teagasc national beef conference in Athlone this week. One key message is that better breeding can deliver €172 more per suckler cow and AI usage should be increased. Farmers were presented with clear statistics outlining the difference in one-star and five-star cows. How good or bad three- and four-star cows are relative to a five-star is not as clear.
Beef farmers heard key messages from top-class advisers at the Teagasc national beef conference in Athlone this week. One key message is that better breeding can deliver €172 more per suckler cow and AI usage should be increased.
Farmers were presented with clear statistics outlining the difference in one-star and five-star cows. How good or bad three- and four-star cows are relative to a five-star is not as clear.
Unlike the dairy herd, the suckler herd falls down on the lack of information available. Data collection from farmers is a key function of the new BDGP scheme – collect more information to make more reliable decisions. (See page 53.)
Minister Coveney’s answer to Éamon Ó Cuív’s question about monitoring carcase trim on kill lines reveals how inadequate the present system is. His answer, that over 38,500 carcases are inspected by his officials, a second year-on-year increase, highlights the inadequacy of the system. (See page 31.)
Only a tiny 3% sample are seen at all and there is no mention of sanctions other than an “inspection report form is furnished to factory management … and where appropriate factory management is required to address any deficiencies”.
This is totally inadequate. All carcases should be independently monitored on a continuous basis, as was the case before mechanical grading was introduced, along with real sanctions for non-compliance.
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