Beef price rise brings early festive cheer to farmers

ALTHOUGH I usually don’t enter into the Christmas spirit until a few days beforehand, there certainly has been some early festive cheer in the beef sector with an overdue and very welcome price rise. Traditionally, the Christmas market coincided with a beef price rise as a result of increased demand in the party season twinned with lower cattle supplies after the rush of cattle off grass in the autumn.

Currently we are witnessing huge weekly beef kills, which is normally the trigger for a price collapse but thankfully the opposite has occurred. Looking at the situation in closer detail, that increased demand for forequarter beef appears to be driving the market. Lower overall carcass weights of cattle slaughtered means less saleable meat available per head of the weekly kill.

The main and obvious reason for increased cattle kill numbers for this time of year is the result of the appalling August and September weather that we had which resulted in animals being housed earlier than usual.

A continued concern for many within the beef industry has been the recent trend towards an increased number of slaughtered animals that are failing to meet even the base classification grades required to receive quality assurance bonus payments.

Added to this, the figures on breed specific bonus payments that are also failing to be met as a result of carcasses falling into the O-grade is continuing to rise. The good work being carried out by some processors into improving the terminal sire selection being used within dairy herds must be commended.

I noted at a recent dairy event the continued message of using Holstein/Jersey crossbreed genetics was prevalent. I fully accept the dairy industry’s goal of maximising profits from grass based systems and selecting their breeding strategies accordingly.

One commentator’s statement that dairy farmers are not in the business of red meat sales has to be countered by the argument that whilst they are producing male calves and putting them on the market they should be accepting a realistic price for them. Whilst the male animals from this breed type are regularly failing to meet grade specifications and quality assurance bonus payments a more realistic value on the calf needs to be set.

A few years ago I saw the angry reaction from a dairy audience when it was suggest- ed that they should pay for a beef farmer to take these male calves. Any production modelling or profit budgeting that I conduct for clients always shows that the incoming calf price must be supported by the producer of the calf. Without this we run the risk of replicating the bobby calf scene that is prevalent in New Zealand, a route I’m sure nobody wants to go down.

On the feed side, erratic supplies of digestible fibre sources such as beet pulp, soya hulls and citrus pulp have led to shortages on some farms, resulting in a lot of changes in ration ingredients and formulations.

In some cases farmers who had purchased some of the above feeds on the forward market have been left without supplies, creating a nuisance factor for all involved. While traded forages (silage, hay, straw, beet) are continuing to be met with a huge demand the inevitable consequences of them taking a huge price surge has occurred.

Thankfully, energy feed prices have remained quite stable. Barley, maize grain and oats appear to be under minimal price pressure and represent excellent value for money in the current market.

On farms with finishing cattle where silage is scarce and straw is unavailable I am working a combination of the above energy sources and limiting or totally excluding silage use. Where silage is available for purchase, it is incumbent on the buyer to make themselves aware of the nutritional value of what they are purchasing.

Dry matter, energy and protein contents should dictate what price is agreed upon. Remember silage at 20pc dry matter will require double the amount to be fed as opposed to silage at 40pc dry matter. Silage with a 9 ME will require approximately 4-5kg more of concentrate as opposed to a silage of 11 ME.

HUGE WEEKLY BEEF KILLS ARE NORMALLY THE TRIGGER FOR A PRICE COLLAPSE BUT THE OPPOSITE HAS OCCURRED

Gerry Giggins is an animal nutritionist based in Co Louth