Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 12 July 2023
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Development of the Sheep Sector: Discussion (Resumed)
Mr. Dale Crammond:
I will start. First, this is not a new issue. It has been around for a long time. The trade in sheep globally, as the chair of MII, Mr. Carroll, outlined, is based on the grade I lamb which is in that 18 kg to 21 kg range. If we are getting in lambs that are significantly over that weight at this time of the year, there are extra processing costs. You might have to take the bone out. The leg might have to be cut in half. There are a number of extra costs that are built into the system that would create inefficiency. As an industry, we do not want to encourage that. We want to be able to return the best price back to the farmer and the way you do that is by providing the retailer or customers what they ultimately need.