Farmers, vets and hauliers have alleged that they felt intimidated by protestors at a number of beef plants.

A haulier who brought cattle to Dawn Meats in Grannagh, Co Waterford, spoke to the Irish Farmers Journal on condition of anonymity. “It was absolutely disgraceful, the carry-on of protesters, intimidating hauliers, threating them, abusing them, not letting cattle through, absolutely disgraceful,” the haulier said.

“Taking pictures of lorries and posting them on Facebook, commenting on torching them, letting the ramps down, trying to blacken their name. At the end of the day, it’s the hauliers that are getting the brunt of this and they are not the ones sending the cattle to the factory. Our lorry could not get in yesterday.

“The farmers whose cattle were on the lorry were under restriction with age. Today, those cattle are over age and he is down €40 or €50 per head.”

A western farmer told the Irish Farmers Journal that the tactics used were “vile and intimidatory in nature” and alleged that he received threatening phone calls to his house at 1am and 2am.

It is understood veterinary staff were challenged in gaining access to ABP Nenagh for the first part of Tuesday’s kill but did go to work.