Meat Industry Ireland (MII) has delivered a stark warning to an Oireachtas Joint Committee that any reduction in dairy cow numbers because of changes to the nitrates derogation “would have obvious impacts on the beef sector’s output”.
Dale Crammond, director of MII told the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine last week that at the moment “approximately 60% of beef output comes from the dairy herd”.
Crammond also shared with committee members that the consulting group, EY, is currently “doing an economic analysis” of the impact of potential changes to the nitrates derogation on the beef sector’s output.
“We now have to walk with our colleagues in the dairy industry and all stakeholders to do what we can to help to address the water quality challenge.
“It is a little bit different. On a beef farm, it tends to be more an issue of phosphorous, whereas from a dairy point of view it tends to be more a nitrogen issue,” he said.
Beef
But Crammond belives that there are “huge opportunities for beef farmers to get involved in working with the local authority waters programme, LAWPRO, and engage on the phosphorous issue”.
“We are very much lock and stock with the dairy industry on this issue because we see the huge threat to our industry and the obvious economic impact that has on many parts of the west of the country,” he told the Oireachtas committee.
Crammond also highlighted that as part of the integration between the dairy and the beef sectors, “it is not just the water quality issue or the climate challenge but also that piece of having better quality calves” coming into the sector.
Calves
“The likes of the commercial Commercial Beef Value (CBV) is now going to be put up on mart boards.
“That is going to help drive breeding decisions on dairy farms and help farmers make better decisions.
“From an industry point of view, we would very much welcome those better quality calves coming into the beef system and rearing them all the way through to finish,” he said.
According to Crammond this would be a “preferable model” for the industry compared to a veal production system.
“Our preference would very much be to continue that focus on dairy-beef integration.
“The department launched a dairy-beef strategy earlier this year and we want now to work with the government to try to implement it as quickly as possible,” he outlined to the commitee.