To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (i) what steps he will take to ensure farmers who rear 100 per cent grass-fed cattle will not be disadvantaged by the lowering of the age at which cattle go to slaughter in the Beef Carbon Reduction Scheme; and (ii) for his assessment of the potential and inadvertent risks, of raising the carbon footprint per kilo of beef, should more cattle farmers switch to feeding their animals a meal-based diet.

The age at slaughter of finished beef cattle is strongly influenced by management decisions and the Beef Carbon Reduction Scheme does not confer a specific disadvantage on any one system of production. Evidence collated by my Department shows that 80% of animals are already slaughtered at or below the Year 1 target for the Scheme of 30 months. The targets set in the Beef Carbon Reduction Scheme by no measure represent or require an intensive production system. Additional purchased feedstuffs can be avoided through better grassland management within a grass-based production system, as well as better attention to animal health and better genetics. This will be the focus of the knowledge transfer programmes that my Department’s College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise, (CAFRE) will be providing, as well as other aspects of the Farm Support and Development Programme.