The national suckler herd “cannot be sacrificed” for meeting climate objectives, the president of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA), Dermot Kelleher has said.
Culling the suckler herd is “not an acceptable, quick-fix solution” to reduce emissions, and the ICSA is “strongly opposed” to what it described as a “suckler herd sell-out”, he said.
A 29% reduction in suckler cow numbers has been predicted in a new Marginal Abatement Cost Curve (MACC) recently published by Teagasc to meet the 2030 emissions reduction target.
The suckler herd is “vital” to the local economy of every county, especially on marginal land and fragmented holdings, Kelleher said.
Suckler farms are “less intensive” and most suckler cows are housed in state-of-the-art, roofed-in wintering facilities, according to the ICSA president.
“The reality is that biodiversity measures are being done and will continue to be done by suckler farmers, but this is contingent on suckler farmers continuing in business.
“Instead of talk about the suckler herd reducing rapidly, we need a coherent and consistent policy to support it into the long term,” Kelleher said.
Suckler beef
Suckler farmers are getting “very frustrated” at the “lack of ambition and urgency” in delivering a suckler brand that would give a “premium price” for suckler beef, ICSA suckler chair, Jimmy Cosgrave said.
“There is real disappointment that meat factories are not stepping up to support the suckler sector by driving on the suckler brand initiative which involves €6 million of state expenditure.
“The meat factories know very well that suckler beef has huge advantages in efficiency in terms of bigger, better carcases with high meat yields and higher yields of valuable steak cuts.
“But suckler farmers are not getting full reward for this,” Cosgrave said.
“If the meat industry is serious, it must act on the research which shows there is an opening for a high animal welfare, low environmental-footprint beef coming from our suckler herd,” he added.