NI beef and lamb important for local economy - AERA Committee chair
Chair of Northern Ireland's Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (AERA) Committee, Robbie Butler MLA, has highlighted the importance of the red meat sectors to the local economy.
He made the assertion while visiting the 2025 Royal Ulster Agricultural Society (RUAS) Beef and Lamb Championship.
Butler said: “This event is a showcase for the livestock sectors.
"Farmers in Northern Ireland produce beef and lamb of a tremendously high quality, 80% of which is exported to the rest of the UK and beyond.”
According to the Lagan Valley-based politician, now of this has come about by chance.
“Farmers continue to invest in the future of their businesses,” he stressed.
“Central to this is using the best genetics available to breed cattle and sheep that are at the very heart of sustainable farm business plans."
The AERA Committee chair also spoke of the plans to genotype Northern Ireland's cattle.
“What’s more, this impetus will be built upon by the new genetics’ support programmes that will be introduced over the coming months within the beef sector," he said.
“Driving this will be the genotyping of all the cattle resident in Northern Ireland.
“The availability of this information will further help farmers to make more effective herd breeding decisions.”
RUAS Beef and Lamb Championship
The 2025 Beef and Lamb event saw a significant increase in entries across all the event’s competition classes.
RUAS group operations’ director, Rhonda Geary, said: “Lamb entries have doubled year-on-year and we have also seen a very significant increase in cattle entries.
“This is a very positive trend that has been impacting on the event for a number of years.
In order to reflect this growth, Geary highlighted that the RUAS increased the size of both the show and auction rings.
She added: “Crowd numbers at the Beef and Lamb Championship have also increased significantly over recent years.
“So, we have expanded the viewing opportunities made available at the event in line with this trend.
“We are also seeing a very healthy increase in the number of buyers participating in the auctions, both in terms of their actual attendance around the sale ring and on-line.
“These include a selection of leading restaurants, meat processers and butchery businesses.”
Looking ahead, Rhonda Geary expects the popularity of the Beef and Lamb Championship to grow.
“It has become an invaluable shop window for Northern Ireland’s cattle and sheep industry.
“The combination of the show classes and the auctions that follow represent the culmination of a year’s work and commitment on the part of all the livestock breeders and exhibitors taking part in th various competition classes.”
