Factories have a host of Agents out doing the dirty work so basically they offer better prices to Agents who buy the cattle off farmers.
They can pay when they want or need to but never show their cards directly to the Farmer.
Not in theory but in practice yes, you might get a better price from a factory in Westmeath or Cavan but you will have to pay a haulier to take them there so in the end tis the same gain.
Complete cartel…
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It is. Its scary how far down this road its been allowed go. Lads are at breaking point.
Your beloved FG encourage this type of anti competitive practise.
It’s fairly simple really. Out of the €10 you pay for beef over the counter it breaks down roughly:
Retailer 4.
Processor 4
Transportation 1
Farmer 1.
The retailer has the product for say 10 days. Allow the processor another 10.
Maximum 20 days all stress free. Farmer, who gets €1 has the rearing costs, vet costs and the worry for approximately 900 days . Figure why farmers are militant.
A cabal of cunts.
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Somebody should have shot Goodman years ago
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I wouldn’t say the processor is getting 40%. Their margins are tight. It’s a volume game for them.
Why didn’t farmers deal with the buyers as a collective?
They do in some quarters and have done well to some extent out of it. AFAIK there can be a difference of as much as 20-30c/Kg. I have known one or two lads who have worked this way but there comes an added stress from
- The factories want a guaranteed supply so there must be X number of bullocks/ heifers every week
- They will specify the type of animal they want for this price so they may want U grade heifers or whatever
- They may stipulate that they want the animals finished on meal - this causes a considerable added cost
Moral of the story, the lads who have gone this way have considerable additional expense for perhaps an extra €80-90/head.
As for the margins, on the meat they may be tight, however, where processors make their money is on the other meat that they get from the carcase that they don’t pay anything for, they are part of the slaughter process
These include the hooves, the intestines, bones, hides, the tongue, the testicles (sold as mountain oysters), the pancreas (known as sweetbreads).
There is an old saying that says the ‘only thing that escapes the processor is the moo’.
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Everything succinctly put in an informed post. A tip of my ash plant to you Sir.
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This bit sticks out for me. Why are the farmers giving them this for free?
Most of these cuts are classed as offal, the processors have markets for it nonetheless and in some cases, these are very lucrative. I remember some years ago reading that tongue was $20 AUD a kilo ex works… considering that its purchase price is $0 -that’s some return.
I guess, initially animals were bought per head and it was the processors wont to do whatever they wished with the animal. Then I guess, over time, price was paid on a cold weight or carcase weight, losing sight of the considerable additional value within the animal that farmers couldn’t readily see. I think farmers now know this and that’s what has bred so much distrust in them.
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I’ve seen this breakdown before and it strikes any sane person as a mad way for a market to operate.
As there often is, is there any other economic reason why the share going to farmers is so minimal? Or is it simply that a market has become ridiculously distorted due to anti competitive practices?
How does the fraction going to farmers for meat compare to other countries?
Also why has no butcher set up directly with a bunch of farmers. Punters invariably love this shortened supply chain and feel righteous they’ve been involved in some sort of fairtrade meat. Ar butchers not allowed butcher animals? Is it only company abattoirs?
There are a few of the “chain” butchers that do their own killing but I’d imagine it’s an economy of scale thing as well as the licencing complications. Would also think that they would find it difficult to access the markets for offal cuts like tongue etc that the major processors have boxed off
I think I know this one, it’s because they can’t get rid of the offal cuts, I think. I didn’t realise that farmers get nothing for tongue and other parts. There’s huge markets for it surely, it’s sitting behind glass in every supermarket in Spain for example, it’s criminal if processors get this for free and make coin off it.
Yes
Many have. Not that many butchers do their own killing now though
Yes to which? I don’t know why you can never answer any of my questions clearly. You’re hopeless altogether.
Yes to both.