Lamb finishers are collectively losing millions of pounds each year because there are no official limits on what processors can, or cannot, take off before the modern, and much lighter carcase, is weighed for payment, says Robert Forster
In contrast beef finishers are not because when cattle carcases go over an abattoir’s weigh scales they must be dressed in line with strict, pre-set, criteria that are monitored on behalf of the European Commission by official inspectors.
This means that the level of neck, brisket and flank trim on beef carcases dressed to the same specification should be almost exactly similar - and a carcase ought to have the same payable weight wherever in the United Kingdom it has been dressed.
The most commonly used specification in the big, price reporting, beef plants is the UK specification. This allows more trim around the neck, brisket and flank than the two alternatives which tend to be preferred by medium sized and smaller plants selling to food service outlets and traditional butchers.
And the processor using the UK spec is expected to make allowance for a slightly lighter carcase when agreeing the price paid per kilo dressed carcase weight with their supplier.
But there is no common, compulsory, dressing specification for lamb which is why carcases weighed for payment by one company can be much lighter, or much heavier, than another – and why today’s dressed carcase bears no resemblance to the standards accepted just 20 years ago.
This is because there are no official restrictions on how much neck can be removed, or what must be left in if the tail is removed - and knives can flash as much, or as little, as the company that is processing the lamb wishes, or does not wish, when trimming flank lying below the ribs.
As a result some carcases can be a kilo lighter than they would have been if the dressing had been undertaken elsewhere.
Companies that trim hardest can pay slightly higher prices per dressed carcase kilo- but this does not always compensate for the trim removed before the carcase is weighed.
And while the loss to an individual farmer may on average be no more than say £1 a head (it may actually be more) this adds up to a collective loss of £12.5 million to the industry over the course of a year because 12.5 million lambs are killed.
One defence is to sell more lambs at auction because processors must compete for the purchase – even if some trim their carcases more heavily than others.
But another would be to press for a tightly defined UK dressing specification to be adopted. It would detail how much can, or cannot be taken off before the carcase is weighed for payment and if there was robust inspection, as there is with beef, then the trim on every lamb carcase would be almost exactly the same.
A collective loss in the region of £12.5 million a year is hefty so it is a mystery to me that lamb finishers have never banded together and insisted on a common, cross-UK, carcase dressing standard being adopted.
And it is surely worth asking if everything that is removed before weighing (neck.tail, flank) falls on the floor and is swept up with the rubbish – or is collected, because it has value, and sold elsewhere instead.
About the author
Robert Forster writes Beef Industry Newsletter which is published, along with the following week’s price forecasts, around 5pm on Friday evenings. It is a must read for professional beef farmers and can be found on the www.rforster.com website. Access is by subscription only. This can be paid on-site and entry is almost immediate. The fee is £40 for three months, £60 for six months and £100 for twelve months
In contrast beef finishers are not because when cattle carcases go over an abattoir’s weigh scales they must be dressed in line with strict, pre-set, criteria that are monitored on behalf of the European Commission by official inspectors.
This means that the level of neck, brisket and flank trim on beef carcases dressed to the same specification should be almost exactly similar - and a carcase ought to have the same payable weight wherever in the United Kingdom it has been dressed.
The most commonly used specification in the big, price reporting, beef plants is the UK specification. This allows more trim around the neck, brisket and flank than the two alternatives which tend to be preferred by medium sized and smaller plants selling to food service outlets and traditional butchers.
And the processor using the UK spec is expected to make allowance for a slightly lighter carcase when agreeing the price paid per kilo dressed carcase weight with their supplier.
But there is no common, compulsory, dressing specification for lamb which is why carcases weighed for payment by one company can be much lighter, or much heavier, than another – and why today’s dressed carcase bears no resemblance to the standards accepted just 20 years ago.
This is because there are no official restrictions on how much neck can be removed, or what must be left in if the tail is removed - and knives can flash as much, or as little, as the company that is processing the lamb wishes, or does not wish, when trimming flank lying below the ribs.
As a result some carcases can be a kilo lighter than they would have been if the dressing had been undertaken elsewhere.
Companies that trim hardest can pay slightly higher prices per dressed carcase kilo- but this does not always compensate for the trim removed before the carcase is weighed.
And while the loss to an individual farmer may on average be no more than say £1 a head (it may actually be more) this adds up to a collective loss of £12.5 million to the industry over the course of a year because 12.5 million lambs are killed.
One defence is to sell more lambs at auction because processors must compete for the purchase – even if some trim their carcases more heavily than others.
But another would be to press for a tightly defined UK dressing specification to be adopted. It would detail how much can, or cannot be taken off before the carcase is weighed for payment and if there was robust inspection, as there is with beef, then the trim on every lamb carcase would be almost exactly the same.
A collective loss in the region of £12.5 million a year is hefty so it is a mystery to me that lamb finishers have never banded together and insisted on a common, cross-UK, carcase dressing standard being adopted.
And it is surely worth asking if everything that is removed before weighing (neck.tail, flank) falls on the floor and is swept up with the rubbish – or is collected, because it has value, and sold elsewhere instead.
About the author
Robert Forster writes Beef Industry Newsletter which is published, along with the following week’s price forecasts, around 5pm on Friday evenings. It is a must read for professional beef farmers and can be found on the www.rforster.com website. Access is by subscription only. This can be paid on-site and entry is almost immediate. The fee is £40 for three months, £60 for six months and £100 for twelve months
