More meat factories in Northern Ireland may be forced to shut down if the government doesn’t step in to maintain the level of production of livestock, especially in the hills.

Following the news that Foyle Foods in Northern Ireland has already shut down its sheep line because it faced a dramatic plunge in lamb throughput, the NBA has warned that beef factories will soon be closing their doors too – unless the alarming fall in the suckler cow population, down 80,000 head across the Province since 1998, is quickly arrested.

“This can be done if the government face up to the reality that the current structure of the Single Farm Payment isn’t working and that some form of structural financial change needs to take place in the beef supply chain,” explained the NBA’s Northern Ireland chairman, Oisin Murnion.

“Beef farmers are giving up on cows because they cannot cover their costs from the sale of their calves. So more investment is needed if a core of beef farmers is to be persuaded to stick with cattle.”

Contrary to popular belief, he also pointed out that extra funding to boost beef production can easily be sourced.

“Additional cash help can be filtered in at the breeding end of the business if the number of native cattle breeds included in the NICMS is extended.”

He added that these could form the rump of a maternal strain of low cost, suckler cows that could be used across the Province to cross with terminal bulls to help maintain beef output while at the same time their thrifty presence would help to protect valued landscapes and environmentally sensitive areas too.