Farmers with “supermarket-suitable” cattle have been advised that there may be value in “shopping around” between factories for best prices.
The advice was offered by the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA).
Commenting, ICMSA Livestock Committee chairperson Des Morrison said that in-spec Herefords and Angus cattle with a dead weight of between 260kg and 340kg are currently in demand.
In addition, factories are under pressure from their supermarket customers, he noted.
He urged farmers to go past their usual agents or factories and seek out those factories actively trying to fill a market that was certainly there.
Continuing, the chairperson said that he thinks, in general, factories are “taking advantage” of the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) and other factors to drop prices, particularly for cows.
He cited the fact that numbers look generally unchanged as evidence that it was the factories exerting downward price pressure.
There’s no evidence of an increase in numbers proportionate to the downward pressure on prices, so that looks as if it’s the factories just pushing price down for cows ‘off their own bat’.
“This is another example of processors profiteering ‘off the backs’ of their farmer-suppliers and it highlights the fact that we have to get away from a set-up that completely gives control to them,” Morrison claimed.
“That will mean – it has to mean – getting away from the grid,” he said.
“We know the type of cattle supermarkets are looking for and want the factories to source and supply for them.
“That’s why we’re saying to farmers with in-spec animals that there’s a great deal of competition right now for them, so farmers should actively seek the best prices,” he said.