It is no secret that the expansion of the dairy herd has resulted in more dairy-bred beef being marketed through the factories.
With the dairy herd set to reach new heights, more and more dairy-influenced stock will be available for beef production in Ireland.
In some instances, it’s difficult to finish these animals to the correct specifications and grades. The challenges of this summer – in terms of the weather experienced – also contributed negatively to this.
In the video below, Joe Burke – Bord Bia’s livestock sector manager – compares a well-finished, in-spec bullock with a steer that graded P=.
He also outlined that the conformation of cattle has disimproved – mainly due to the quality of cattle coming from the dairy herd. Joe noted that genetics – or the bulls and cows dairy farmers are using – is the main reason behind this.
“Some are coming from the crossbred route, perhaps with a bit more Jersey. As a result of a combination of these factors, we have over 20% of beef-cross cattle out of the dairy herd that are not even reaching a confirmation of an O=,” he explained.
Touching on the importance of quality assurance, Joe said: “To supply any of the good-quality customers – that are buying big volumes of beef week in, week out – it’s an absolute prerequisite that we have quality assurance to meet those customer requirements.”