The Bord Bia ‘Grass Fed Irish Beef Standard‘ is a processor-level standard that is set to be rolled out to Irish beef farmers in the near future.

When up and running, the scheme will use data collected during Bord Bia farm audits, along with animal movement data, to determine whether or not a farmer’s beef cattle qualify as grass fed under Bord Bia standards.

Bord Bia criteria

Speaking at the Irish Grassland Association (IGA) 2021 virtual beef event, Rory Mannion, Bord Bia’s quality assurance and farm sustainability coordinator, outlined the six main eligibility criteria:

  • Herds must be members of the Sustainable Beef and Lamb Assurance Scheme (SBLAS);
  • Assessment of conformity must be completed using the Bord Bia Grass Fed Beef model;
  • Assessment must be completed using data collected during SBLAS farm audits and stored on the Bord Bia Quality Assurance database;
  • Information required for the operation of the grass fed beef model must be available for an animal’s whole life;
  • Meat from animals will only be classified as grass fed where a minimum of 90% of the feed consumed is grass or grass forage;
  • Animals must be permitted to graze outdoors on grass for a substantial part of the year.

Mannion stressed that the two “key rules” will be, that the animal must have a grass fed diet of at least 90% and must have access to pasture for 220 days throughout the year.

However, he noted that there will be “a 40-day leniency for wet years and different farm types”.

Accreditation

The new Bord Bia standard is accredited by the National Accreditation Board that, according to Mannion, gives “a huge amount more credibility in comparison with other programmes on the market”.

According to Bord Bia, the grass fed standard was developed in response to market research that emphasised “customers wanted grass fed beef and were willing to pay a premium”.

“Our focus is to engage with those customers and secure those markets so that additional value can be relayed back to the rest of the supply chain.”

When purchasing animals, Mannion noted that “the farmer will need to make sure the animals are coming from a Quality Assured [QA] herd”.

“The data of the animal’s life is needed to determine whether the animal is eligible for the grass fed criteria.”

Exceptions

However, it was outlined that there are exceptions built into the scheme, e.g., the first nine months of an animal’s life is not considered.

“Flexibility in the model improves eligibility of animals in drystock herds,” Mannion explained.

Cows, heifers, steers and young bulls will all be eligible to qualify for the scheme.

However, Mannion emphasised “it is early days in the scheme and Bord Bia is still trying to monitor how the premium can be delivered back to farmers as production starts to ramp up”.

Concluding, Mannion added: “It’s something Bord Bia is very excited about. We have a great story to tell around grass fed systems, and we now have an accredited scheme to show customers the beef they are buying truly is grass fed.”

IRISH GRASS FED BEEF