The world wants chilled lamb meat but the challenge was to get it to the right markets at the right time, Alliance Group livestock manager Murray Behrent told farmers at a field day last week. While frozen lamb still accounted for 60 to 70 per cent of exports, the aim was to convert that to chilled to maximise returns, he said. “Lamb is a premium product and we want to sell to the millionaires of the world.”

Shelf life had been extended from nine weeks to 11, which meant the meat was on retail shelves for longer, offering more sale opportunities reports The Southland Times. Speaking at M&WNZ’s new Meat the Future field day last week, Mr Behrent said the co-operative knew farmers wanted $100 for a lamb now and were unhappy with returns lower than last year. But if the NZ dollar was the same as last year, farmers would be getting between $112 and $115, because of record prices being achieved in British retail markets.

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South Canterbury freezing works are cutting hours as lamb numbers dwindle. Low lamb numbers have forced freezing works to reduce hours for the past month reports The Timaru Herald. Silver Fern Pareora and Alliance Smithfield in Timaru are operating between 20 and 30 hours a week. Alliance Smithfield employs 475 people while about 730 work at the Silver Fern Pareora plant.

“It’s rather unusual for this time of the year as we’d normally expect to be busier,” Alliance Smithfield plant manager Dick Allen said. Mr Allen attributed reduced workflow to low demand for stock kill and because many farmers were electing to put weight on stock before it went to sale. He said lamb shortages were affecting other plants across the South Island and was not sure how long it would go on.

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Dairy farmers could be forced to slaughter thousands of calves in their own paddocks in response to a global price slump for meat and leather. Havelock dairy farmer Tony Sorensen said he expected to receive between $3 to $5 for his calves this season, which would not cover the cost of rearing them reports Stuff. Calves were usually sent to the works at about five to six days old but smaller calves took longer to rear, he said. “We’ll have to make a decision at some stage as to whether we want to lose money. Mr Sorensen estimated about 100 calves born at a low weight would be culled.

Although the calves would normally be slaughtered at the works and he believed culling an animal on-farm was not morally right, he said this year it would be unavoidable due to the tough economic environment. “It’s very bizarre and very depressing. We’ll be happy to give them away rather than kill them.” Alliance Group livestock manager Murray Behrent said prices for small calves weighing seven kilograms to 13.4kg were down about 20 percent on last year, while prices for medium calves, 13.5kg to 15.9kg, were down about 11 percent. A 10kg calf would be worth about $8, but it cost $5 to truck a calf to the works.

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