Knackery services across the country will resume on Tuesday following talks between Department of Agriculture officials and the Animal Collectors Association (ACA).
ACA chair Michael McKeever told the Irish Farmers Journal that all knackeries in the country will “temporarily re-commence services” based on a verbal agreement given by the Department.
He added that once formal confirmation on the verbal agreement is received by the ACA, “full knackeries services will resume as normal”.
He added that it was in the best interest of all stakeholders to reach a speedy resolution and avoid any further hardship to both the farming and knackery industries.
The strike by knackeries was in place for five days and resulted in thousands of dead animals being left uncollected on farms across the country.
Support package
Both sides were tight-lipped about the details of the agreement. However, the Department of Agriculture confirmed that Monday’s meeting had a “support package for animal collectors” on the agenda.
Until the Fallen Animal Scheme was changed in 2009, knackery operators were paid a subsidy per head.
Prior to 2009 they were paid €19.30/head for a calf under six months, €64.70/head for cattle aged six to 24 months and €68.10 for cattle over 24 months.
Since 2009 the subsidy has been scaled back to only cater for the rendering cost of cattle over 48 months.
As a result, knackery operators say they lost more than 80% of the subsidy they received from Government.
They also have serious issues with the lack of competition in the rendering sector, which they say has doubled the cost of rendering carcases.
Read more
Knackery strike leaves 3,000 dead cattle uncollected
Knackeries on strike over rendering cost
Department offered extra money to avoid knackery strike
Knackery services across the country will resume on Tuesday following talks between Department of Agriculture officials and the Animal Collectors Association (ACA).
ACA chair Michael McKeever told the Irish Farmers Journal that all knackeries in the country will “temporarily re-commence services” based on a verbal agreement given by the Department.
He added that once formal confirmation on the verbal agreement is received by the ACA, “full knackeries services will resume as normal”.
He added that it was in the best interest of all stakeholders to reach a speedy resolution and avoid any further hardship to both the farming and knackery industries.
The strike by knackeries was in place for five days and resulted in thousands of dead animals being left uncollected on farms across the country.
Support package
Both sides were tight-lipped about the details of the agreement. However, the Department of Agriculture confirmed that Monday’s meeting had a “support package for animal collectors” on the agenda.
Until the Fallen Animal Scheme was changed in 2009, knackery operators were paid a subsidy per head.
Prior to 2009 they were paid €19.30/head for a calf under six months, €64.70/head for cattle aged six to 24 months and €68.10 for cattle over 24 months.
Since 2009 the subsidy has been scaled back to only cater for the rendering cost of cattle over 48 months.
As a result, knackery operators say they lost more than 80% of the subsidy they received from Government.
They also have serious issues with the lack of competition in the rendering sector, which they say has doubled the cost of rendering carcases.
Read more
Knackery strike leaves 3,000 dead cattle uncollected
Knackeries on strike over rendering cost
Department offered extra money to avoid knackery strike
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