There is very little difference between the eating quality of bull beef and steer beef, recent Teagasc research has found.

Further research by Teagasc would suggest that hip hanging, as opposed to the traditional hanging method, has an effect on the eating quality of beef and could be used to make up any small difference in eating quality between bulls and steers.

On the research results, Teagasc’s meat quality researcher Dr Aidan Maloney said: “In general, sensory scores for bulls are lower than for steers based on trained panellists, but the differences are small in absolute terms.

“The key question is whether a consumer would detect this difference. I suspect not, if all other influences are controlled.”

Factories have used the eating quality argument in the past to steer the industry away from killing bulls and have also discounted bulls on beef price.

However, farmers operating bull beef systems have consistently been among the most profitable farmers in the country in recent years.

Market dynamics

A shift in market dynamics towards an increasingly important food service trade would suggest that forequarter bull beef would make sense for factories but they still seem adamant that they don’t want bulls.

Some have a quota system in place which works well with suppliers, while others are very slow to even entertain the idea of increasing the proportion of bulls in the Irish kill.

We cannot ignore the scientific fact that bull beef production could reduce our greenhouse gas emissions from beef production by over 30%, along with increasing profitability for beef finishers.

Factories have cited marketing issues and losing our unique selling point as the reason to stay away from bulls but this strategy is hitting farmers’ pockets and the carbon footprint of the Irish beef.