There was a major crossroads reached about 10 years ago where the low margins in beef production meant that if you didn’t dramatically improve your efficiency of production and scale up, you couldn’t make a sustainable income from finishing.

There is a widespread feeling that larger feedlots are a negative in that the factories can manipulate supply, therefore lowering prices paid to smaller beef farmers. But my analysis is that this isn’t the case.

Firstly, there have been significant technical advancements in how these feedlots feed, finish, care for and market their cattle.

Most of these farms compare favourably with the top-performing beef producers I have seen across the world, even in countries that use growth-promoting enhancers.

Most of these farms are focused on short keep, with cattle spending 70 to 80 days on farm. The key to this short turnaround is that when cattle arrive on farms they settled rapidly and move on to full rations as quickly as possible.

At this point they aim for gains exceeding 1.5kg/hd/day.

Cattle are entering and leaving on an almost daily basis, and to prevent major disease outbreaks, it is important that good practice and protocols around vaccinations are adhered to. Most of the larger beef farms have this perfected.

As feed costs are by far the highest expense on these large farms, they are well practiced in making or sourcing high-quality forages.

They are well accustomed to forward buying of most of their feed requirements for the year. This gives them significant advantage over incidental buyers.

Prudent buying of feedstuffs, straights or specially formulated concentrate blends can save up to €1 per day off the standard feed costs per animal.

Most of these farms follow a model similar to the big pig and poultry producers, with integrated systems where supply patterns and specification are strictly adhered to.

Most of these farmers would love to be only dealing with continental cross animals, but price and availability are becoming a big issue.

Dairy-bred cattle are becoming the predominant type of animals available to these large feedlots. As dairy production continues to expand it is essential we have these large-scale beef farmers functioning in an efficient and profitable manner.

Gerry Giggins is an animal nutritionist based in Co Louth