Dr. Frank O'Mara:

It certainly is as well. We have about the same number of calves in the country as in recent years, but the balance is shifting. If there was profit in it, however, there would be farmers willing to buy them, and that is the challenge. On imported protein, there are two issues. Beans have been a reasonably successful crop in recent years. We have a research programme on other crops as well, such as soya beans, but they will be more challenging and require as much or more support as the beans to get going. The other side of this issue concerns how much protein we need. We are clear that there is overfeeding of protein to most of our animals, including pigs and cattle. In the MACC curve, cutting back protein levels is one of the things that will contribute to reducing emissions and that is an area we will address with the feed compounders. Especially when cows are at grass, there is no need for high protein in the diet.