€9.00/kg will be needed for spring lamb in order to cover spiralling input costs and leave something behind for farmers.
That’s according to Sean McNamara of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association (ISCA).
The ICSA sheep chair told Agriland that spiralling input costs are crippling farmers and that in order for it to be worthwhile to farmers who will have spring lambs ready for market in the coming weeks, €9.00/kg needs to be on the table.
He said: “Opening quotes I’ve heard for spring lambs are well wide of the mark of what is needed to make it worthwhile for farmers who will have spring lambs ready for market in the coming weeks.
“Quotes for spring lambs, from what I’ve heard, are roughly where they started out at this time last year – between €7.40-7.50/kg.
“It’s a long way wide of where it should be, which is up on €9.00/kg. It’s as simple as that. And also, the weights to which spring lambs are being paid up to also needs to be looked at.
“Being paid up to 20kg is a joke; farmers should be paid up to 22kg for spring lamb.”
Sean said that the way the cost of feed, fertiliser and fuel is, farmers will need to be getting a lot more for what they are producing or else they won’t be able to keep carrying on, and the worst fears of food shortages could become a reality.