Beef Farmers Struggle with Low Prices

The considerable reduction in beef prices in the first quarter of 2016 compared with the same period in 2015 is seeing beef producers lose a million pounds a week, Ulster Farmers’ Union beef and lamb chairman Crosby Cleland has said.

Northern Ireland's UFU said it is well aware that all sectors of farming are struggling with prices below the cost of production and those multi-million pound losses for beef producers are further evidence of extreme pressure on farm incomes.

“It's no surprise that losses on this scale are undermining producer confidence and creating uncertainty about what the future holds for family farms.

"With direct payments to beef farmers set to drop each year until 2021, processors must realise they will have to pay more for cattle if they want supplies to be maintained,” warned Mr Cleland - read more.

In disease news, a suspected case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) has been confirmed in France.

The affected bovine, a Salers breed female born in 2011, showed muscle weakness and was euthanised on 1 March 2016, according to the French report to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

The report said that an epidemiological investigation aimed at identifying the potential causes of infection has been launched.

In addition, a traceability investigation is on-going to identify animals potentially at risk (cohort and offspring), which will then be destroyed - read more.