Mr. Fergal Byrne:

If someone is killing lamb at a certain price – for easier counting, let us say it is €6 per kilo – that lamb is getting €124 or €125, meal costs €350 to €400 per tonne and €10 or €12 is spent on meal, the farmer would make as much from killing the underfleshed lamb and getting €115 or €116 as he or she would from getting €135 and giving the co-op the difference. The farmer would have the same money, and that is what is happening.

As an example, let us say a farmer with 200 ewes and 300 lambs – one and a half lambs per ewe is a good average figure – sells those lambs and only gets €130 apiece. We can do our sums on that. The farmer will never have a surplus of money and will be under pressure constantly. At this time of year, the farmer has to sell sheep. Whether they are finished or not, they have to go.