ABP Food Group livestock manager Paul Matthews has given his views on the need for ‘synergy’ from the beef sector, and why he believes more ‘joined-up thinking’ is needed from the industry as a whole.
Matthews was speaking to attendees at an ABP Advantage Beef Programme farm walk, which took place on Thursday (June 23) on the farm of John Twohig in Bandon, Co. Cork.
Matthews outlined that “synergy” will be needed between the beef processor, the beef farmer and the dairy farmer in the future, and said that “for this to happen, everybody will have to try to work closer together”.
He explained: “We need to get to the stage where we are all producing what the next person wants.
“The dairy farmer will need to produce the type of calf that the beef farmer wants, for the beef farmer to produce the type of animal the processor wants, for the processor to produce the type of beef that the customer wants.”
He added that ABP’s Advantage Beef Programme aims to improve this working relationship by offering farmers a guaranteed minimum base price and a sustainability bonus of 20c/kg for meeting the programme’s criteria.
Attendees at the farm walk heard how the Advantage Beef Programme aims to improve calf quality through genetics.
It promotes the use of high Dairy Beef Index (DBI) sires with a high beef sub-index and utilising the data available to farmers through the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF).
It was also outlined at the farm walk that many farmers are unsure of how to use indexes and the data available through ICBF to their benefit. ABP has a team of liaison officers located across the country to assist farmers in using the data available to them to their advantage.