A member of the Twenty20 Beef Club – a joint venture between Glanbia and Kepak – has hosted the president of the European co-operative representative body Cogeca on his farm.
Cogeca president Ramon Armengol visited the farm of Dara Walton in Kilkenny recently, one of the farms where the dairy calf to beef programme operates.
The Twenty20 Beef Club was developed by Glanbia Ireland and Kepak, which sees dairy calves from Glanbia Ireland supplier dairy herds reared and finished on beef farms and processed in a Kepak processing plant.
Last year, the Twenty2O Beef Club won a Cogeca award for ‘Co-operative Innovation’, under the category of ‘Economic Value Creation’. This award is set to be presented at a ceremony in Brussels later this month.
Glanbia Ireland’s head of beef, Martin Ryan, noted that Armengol was impressed with the data from 2021 processing.
According to Glanbia, members of the club receive a premium of 25c/kg on top of the average quoted price in the market on cattle that meet the club’s specifications, in addition to other bonuses.
“The key achievement noted was the reduction in slaughter age, relative to the national average for similar cattle,” Ryan said.
The average age at slaughter was 23.7 months and 21.8 months for steers and heifers respectively, and this alone would significantly reduce the carbon footprint of [beef from the programme].
The farmer hosting the visit, Dara Walton, has been rearing cattle for the scheme since last year.
Explaining how the scheme works, he said: “The procurement officer comes in and picks the cattle so we’re not overfeeding them and it’s not costing us money. Our cattle are going off when they’re fit. When you hit the specs you’re getting the bonus as well, which is a big help. It’s worth a lot on a heavy carcass.”
He noted that members of the programme are also able to avail of advice and information.