Recently in beef Category

Beef farmers in Scotland started to receive their share of £22m of European funding this week as payments for the 2011 Scottish Beef Calf Scheme began.

The Scottish Government said money would start appearing in bank accounts from Tuesday (24 April) and expected that 95% of the 7,902 producers would be paid by the end of April, subject to necessary checks.

This year's payment is set at £102.44 for each of the first ten eligible animals, and £51.22 for the remainder. The scheme aims to support smaller specialist beef producers breeding beef calves from suckler cows.

Steer producers should take care to produce quality carcases after the proportion meeting the conformation target fell back from 58% to 56% from 2010 to 2011.

This appears to be a developing trend that has continued since 2009, when the figure was 60%, according to the EBLEX report.

“One possible explanation is that producers may be trying to finish animals earlier to minimise feed costs, or are overly keen to benefit from high prices,” said head of research and development Kim Matthews.

The report also shows overall quality of British prime beef carcases has not improved during 2011.

The data was taken from a sample of just under 400,000 prime cattle classified across the UK in 2011 shows 49% of carcases met the R4L or better target market specification, the same percentage as in 2010.

Young bull classifications, however, showed a notable improvement as the number hitting R4L or better increased from 48% to 53%. Mr Matthews puts this down to “a reduction in the number of dairy-bred bulls as increasing food costs put producers off finishing these animals.”

Beef farmers can be reasonably confident the firm markets that characterised 2011 will continue throughout this year, according to the EBLEX.

It predicted UK prime beef and cull cow slaughterings would fall this year after a rise in the past two years, while imports would remain well below previous years and continental demand fuelled exports.

Strong export demand was predicted for manufacturing beef in particular, giving further support to the cull cow trade alongside prime beef markets. This should offset any fall in domestic consumption due to pressures on household budgets.

Global beef and sheep prices are likely to remain firm in 2012 as demand from emerging economies grows against a backdrop of generally tight supplies, according to the latest AHDB International Meat Market Review.

“Global beef prices continued to increase in 2011 with prices in major producing countries all ahead of last year. It is likely that firm prices will prevail through 2012,” said AHDB senior analyst Debbie Butcher.

But with some recovery of both beef and sheep numbers, it is possible that prices won’t quite reach the heights recorded during last year. A modest recovery in beef and veal production was predicted in 2012 and the firm prices were also likely to prompt some rebuilding of the global sheep flock, she said.

“You can win ... you can grow … you can be one of the food industry’s great success stories,” was the positive message from Joanne Denney-Finch to producers at Quality Meat Scotland’s conference this week.

IGD’s research showed that farmers were viewed as hardworking, down to earth, professional and vital to the future, said chief executive Ms Denny-Finch.

“I find farmers are usually very pleasantly surprised to discover just how staunchly they’re supported by the public!”

But shoppers hunting harder for deals create complications for retailers and their suppliers, she warned. “Demand is going up and down in waves … sales are harder to predict and profit margins are regularly squeezed.

“Red meat has been relatively less affected and you’ve been spared some of these problems although you could lose out on sales. So if not through price cutting promotions … you will need to keep finding other ways to grab attention and convince shoppers of the value you offer.”

Sheep producers received a bigger share of the retail price for lamb in December 2011, but beef and pig farmers saw little change, according to AHDB’s latest UK Market Survey.

Strong export demand and tight supplies saw the average deadweight ex-farm price for lamb increase by 42p/kg in December compared with the month earlier. Over the same period the retail price declined slightly, so producers received almost 60% of the final retail price, up 6% on the month.

Overall during 2011 producers received 59% of the retail price, compared with 55% in 2010.

Beef producers received on average 54% of the final retail price during December, 1% down on the month, but 5% higher than December 2010. Pig producers saw a smaller improvement on the year (up 2%) and still receive a much lower share. The average ex-farm deadweight pig price equated to just 39% of the retail value in December.
 
 

There are encouraging signs that the national beef supply base is stabilising, according to EBLEX.

Analysis of British Cattle Movement Service data showed that just under 2.63m calves were registered with BCMS in the year to July 2011, around 20,000 head up on the previous year and 65,000 more than 2008/09. It brings registrations back to the level of 2007/08.

Some 470,000 calves were pure-bred dairy heifers, leaving nearly 2.16m available for the beef industry, 2% more than 2008/09.

Dairy-sired calf numbers were down slightly due to a sharp fall in male registrations offsetting a rise in dairy heifers.

Limousins remained the most widely used beef sire, continuing to record more than double the registrations of the next most popular breeds - Charolais and Aberdeen Angus.

Dorset-based beef and lamb processor RWM Foods lost a major retail order just as the group was bought by ABP, it has emerged.

RWM said it was told of the cancellation of a “substantial order” for retail packed meat from a major multiple retail customer in the same week that the deal with ABP came into effect (9 October).

It did not reveal the name of the customer or why the business was lost but said the lost order represented over half the production at the Yetminster facility and consultation with staff at the site had begun.

“We intend to make a powerful case to reverse this decision, win back the business and prevent significant job losses,” a spokesman said. The lost order would have no effect on Blade Farming’s operations, he said.

Morrisons Traditional Breeds Beef Range hits the shelves this week, promoting quality cuts from native British cattle.

Two hundred farms have been producing Shorthorn, Hereford, Aberdeen Angus and finished stock from many other native breeds for the chain.
 
Consistently high eating quality in flavour and texture through marbling is the aim, with a special diet and 21 day maturing on the bone part of the plan. All of Morrisons’ fresh beef, lamb and pork is British.

Global meat supplies are likely to tighten further next year, which should help keep prices firm, according to a Rabobank report.

Barring any major economic disruption, it predicted GDP growth - particularly in countries such as China, India and Indonesia - would outstrip protein supplies, resulting in “another year of record prices in most markets for most proteins around the world”.

There was likely to be reduced supplies from the US in particular, where a steep drop in meat and poultry production was forecast for 2012. Drought in the south and southwest US had exacerbated the long-term downtrend in the cattle herd, while the chicken industry was cutting back production due to lower profitability, it said.

The US pork sector had so far held relatively steady, but Rabobank said there were signs of increased sow slaughter as the industry got to grips with some of the tightest corn supplies in history.