- Dawn Meats

Issue No. 4 December 2011
DawnDirect
Keeping our farmer suppliers and customers informed
Christmas
Greetings
We are delighted to extend
Christmas wishes to our customers
and suppliers by supporting the
incredible work of Bóthar in the
Developing World by donating an
in-calf dairy cow as a Christmas gift.
Through the gift of an
Irish dairy cow, we are
helping to provide a
struggling family with
nutrition, an income
and security often for
the very first time,
with the hope that this in turn will help
another poverty-stricken family and
ultimately an entire community. We
are donating this gift in lieu of sending
Christmas cards this year.
Alternative Forage for Fattening Lambs
Anthony McShane farms in Carlingford, Co. Louth. He runs 500 ewes, half of which are
black face, on 110 adjusted acres and commonage and he lambs outdoors. Anthony
supplies Dawn Ballyhaunis through the Monaghan Producer Group and works closely with
Teagasc advisor Hugh Rooney.
Anthony has a strong interest in alternative forage
crops for fattening lambs. In order to lower costs he has
grown Rape, Redstart and Chicory Italian RVP, but he
has a preference for Tyfon. “Tyfon seems to be better
for the ground in this area and barley seems to do
better afterwards” but he went on to say “it is weather
dependent and it is important to get established early
in case there is a drought in July or August, so spray
off the ground in May and then it should be ready for
the weaning of the lambs.” Tyfon is a cross between
a stubble turnip and a Chinese cabbage. It is essentially a stubble turnip variety that has high levels of leaf
production and it is the leaves, not the root that is the main target for grazing.”
Earlier this year Anthony decided to put in 7 acres of Tyfon. He also decided to run a simple experiment
where he decided to look at 3 different methods of finishing lambs. The Texel cross lambs were weaned on
the 15th of July and grazed for 8 weeks. Anthony then split the lambs into 3 groups as follows:
Group 1: Less forward lambs, into shed – 1kg meal / day and straw.
Group 2: Very forward lambs, to grass – 0.2kg meal / day
Group 3: Others to Tyfon.
The 1st draft for slaughter was taken 3 weeks later and the results are shown in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Results of First Draft of lambs
Paul Nolan, Group Development Manager, Dawn
Meats presenting Niamh Mulqueen, Bóthar, with a
cheque for the purchase of an
in-calf heifer for Africa.
We would like to take
this opportunity
to wish you all a very
Happy Christmas
and a prosperous
New Year.
Pre Slaughter Wt (kgs)
Carcase Wt (kgs)
Kill out %
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Finished on meals Finished on Grass Finished on Tyfon
50
21.26
43%
46.5
21.8
47%
45
21.45
48%
In the first draft there were only 5 lambs drafted from Group 1 and they had the poorest kill out. The lambs
that were on Tyfon killed out slightly better than the lambs on grass even though the lambs in Group 2 were
considered to be slightly more forward. Anthony also noted that the longer the lambs were left on the Tyfon the
better they killed out. Table 2 below shows the kill out of another draft of 57 lambs all of which were in Group 3.
Table 2: Lambs killed after 8 weeks on Tyfon
Group finished after 8 weeks on Tyfon
46.5
22.78
49%
60%U3’s 40% R3’s
Pre Slaughter Wt (kgs)
Carcase Wt (kgs)
Kill out %
Conformation of all Tyfon fed lambs
Anthony estimates that it is possible to finish approximately 20-25 lambs off an acre of well established
Tyfon. His cost per acre was €120. This is for a full crop of Tyfon; you could also use a lower rate of Tyfon and
include it as part of a reseed.
DawnDirect
Dermott’s Festive Irish Spiced Beef
Dermott Slade is our Head Development Chef at Dawn Meats. For the last two years
Dermott has been at the forefront of developing first to market, innovative and
successful meal solutions for Dawn Meats to supply to the UK supermarkets.
Prior to joining Dawn Meats, Dermott had quite a varied and
illustrious career! Dermott held the position of sous-chef at the
Dorchester Hotel London, Hilton International Paris and Windows
on the World as well as positions at the two Michelin Star La
Ortolan, Berkshire. He was also the chef and proprietor of Dermott’s
Restaurant, the highly-acclaimed award-winning restaurant based in
Swansea, and has opened various award-winning five-star red-star
hotels with rosette awards for culinary excellence.
A Steer in the
right direction
As we leave 2011, a year that will
long be remembered for reduced
kills and record breaking prices for
livestock, we should reflect upon the
fundamentals of an industry which
has played a major part in Ireland’s
Agri –Exports growing from €7
billion in 2009 to €9 billion this year.
Certainly prices soared due to a
global imbalance between supply and
demand with, ironically, the reduction
in supply masking the fall in demand
in these tough economic times
throughout the world.
We must, however, consider the
fact that the tremendous positives
surrounding the image of Irish beef
are based on our history of supplying
uniquely in Europe, Quality Assured
Prime Grass-fed STEER BEEF which is
enjoyed in all our premium markets.
No doubt farmers will reflect that
economics encouraged producers to
increase the output of bull beef but
we believe that key to Ireland’s future
success will be the central role played
by Steer Beef and as a result we will be
working hard with all our stakeholders
in 2012 in a bid to keep Grass-fed
Steer Beef at the heart of our offer
for current and potentially new and
exciting opportunities that we believe
will come our way in the near future.
SOS Project Update
The Dawn Meats SOS Demo Farm
owned by Ruairi Delaney has been
recently profiled by the Irish Farmers
Journal.
A copy of the article can be found
at: www.dawnmeats.com. New SOS
members are still welcome and should
either click on the SOS application
form on the website www.dawnmeats.
com or contact admin@dawnmeats.
com for further information.
Dermott has also been the personal chef to the Sultan of Brunei and various Hollywood and
International pop stars including Catherine - Zeta Jones
and Michael Douglas. On a personal level Dermott has won
awards for National Chef of Wales, South Wales Chef of the
Year and Welsh Chef of the Year.
Dermott, whose Dad hails from Co. Waterford, assures us
that his Festive Irish Spiced Beef recipe will be a real crowdpleaser this Christmas!
When you need to start
What you need to do
You will need to give yourself one week to
prepare this dish and one day to cook and
chill.
Apart from the Guinness - Mix all the above
ingredients together in a bowl.
Meat
2.5kg topside beef joint with a minimum
of one week’s shelf life.
Ingredients
1 teaspoon of ground bay leaf
¼ teaspoon of ground cloves
1 teaspoon of cracked black pepper
½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon of ground allspice
8 tablespoons of ground sea salt
3 teaspoons of molasses
1 teaspoon of ground mace
1 large or 2 small garlic cloves crushed into
a paste
2 teaspoons of demerara sugar or light
brown sugar
The finely grated rind of one orange
The strained juice of the above orange
440mls of Guinness (optional) – you will
need this later on in the week
Place the beef joint into a deep tray and rub
all the ingredients over the beef, now cover
the tray tightly with clingfilm and refrigerate
for 7 days.
Turn the beef over once a day for 7
days ensuring you keep on rubbing the
ingredients and juices into the meat.
Early on the 8th day – place the beef into
a large pot, now add the Guinness to the
pot and add cold water until the meat is
completely covered, now gently simmer the
beef for 6 hours . . . At the end of the 6
hours remove from the heat and leave the
beef to cool in the stock – until the meat is
cool enough to handle. Once cool enough
to handle remove from the pot, now wrap
the beef with clingfilm and place the beef
between two trays. Carefully place weights
or something heavy on the top tray and
place into the refrigerator to chill overnight.
When ready to serve – remove clingfilm and
slice thinly and enjoy!
Curriculum Launch
Paul Nolan, Group Development
Manager for Dawn Meats
accompanies Minister for
Agriculture, Food and Marine,
Simon Coveney, Bernard
Donohue, Chairman of AgriAware and Ag Science students
from Wesley College and
Mullingar at the recent launch
of the new Agricultural Science
Curriculum for the Leaving Cert.
Sarah’s Blog
Where has time gone, one year on . . . I’m slowly getting out and about to meet some of
you and will continue to do so over the coming year. Those I have met so far have been
very welcoming and it’s encouraging to hear people being forward thinking on a number
of the challenges we all face in the beef and sheep sector.
My role is being split more evenly between the
UK and Ireland and I have just launched the
first UK version of the Dawn Direct newsletter.
This is available on the Dawn Meats website for
anyone who is interested.
The challenges facing farmers on both sides of
the Irish Sea are very similar but it’s interesting
to see how industry organisations are
prioritising these. The UK are focussed on TB,
expanding export markets, rising input costs
and starting to understand the importance
of grass as a source of feed. These issues are
some that Ireland has already made progress
on and from which the UK farmers could learn
from. Farmers and processors in both countries
are concerned over the future supply of cattle,
particularly from the suckler herd. There are
gains to be made in all areas of production on
many farms, most notably in the area of suckler
cow fertility and it is good to see ICBF and
other organisations focussing on this subject.
Enough of the serious stuff, at home the cows
have been housed since September due to the
high rainfall and it keeps falling! The weather
in Northern Ireland is definitely different from
Norfolk! Speaking to Dad in mid October he
was telling me that the county needed 240mm
of rain before Christmas just to get back to
near normal levels. I didn’t like to tell him that
we had 250mm of rain in the first 12 days of
the month!!
I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all a
very Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.
See you in 2012.
Sarah
Dairy Beef Club Update
The Dairy Beef project is steadily progressing and so we
only have a short update for this edition of the newsletter.
Calves were housed during November and weighed between
250kg and 290kg on the different finishing farms. The target weight at housing was 250kg
so all animals are on target so far. The calves will now be finished out of the house next
May, being fed ad-lib rations on all units. A full update of the results will be available in the
Summer 2012 newsletter.
The National BVD Eradication Programme
The voluntary phase of the national BVD eradication programme will begin on Jan 1st
2012 and will be compulsory in Jan 2013. The key to eradication is the identification and
removal of persistently infected (PI) animals along with appropriate steps to prevent
further introduction. The most common means of introduction is through purchase of PI
animals or a pregnant non-PI animal which is carrying a PI calf. Other risks include direct
or indirect contact with animals from other herds through shared equipment such as nose
tongs and trailers or by people moving between farms.
The national programme will be based on
testing of tissue samples collected using ear
tags within seven days of birth. This will be
done using a third green button tag bearing
the official identification number of the
animal. A negative result confirms that the
mother of the calf is also not PI.
Button tags are available to order from
Mullinahone Co-op or download the form at
www.mullinahonecoop.ie
Samples may be sent to one of a number of
labs designated to carry out this testing. All
labs will transfer results to the ICBF database,
which will automatically generate a SMS text
message to notify you of the results. The
option exists to re-test animals to confirm that
they are positive and therefore PI.
Animals with a negative test result (which are
therefore non-PI) will have their test status
identified on the display board at the mart.
This may result in increased sale prices for
animals with negative test results.
Further details are available on www.
animalhealthireland.ie including a video
summarising the various stages of the
programme.
ASA Careers
Opportunity Seminar
The Agricultural Science Association runs a
Career Development Forum annually and
this year it took place on 15th November
in the Agriculture and Food Science Centre
in UCD.
The ASA Career Development Forum is open
to final year BAgrSc students and recent
graduates and it gives them an opportunity
to hear all about the world of work and job
seeking. The event also aims at broadening
out the focus of their future career paths and
areas of employment.
Dawn Meats Group HR Manager, Larry Keena
gave a presentation on CVs, cover letters,
interview skills and the Dawn Meats Graduate
Recruitment Programme. Dawn Meats Ireland
Operations Manager, Philip Tallon gave a
brief account of his career path and his own
personal experiences since he graduated.
The broad range of scientific and business
skills that holders of the BAgrSc degree now
possess opens the door to a wide range
of career opportunities, and this was very
apparent from the various presentations.
Other speakers included Zoe Kavanagh, Chief
Executive National Dairy Council, Dermot
Cantillon, Manager, Forenaghts Stud and
Stephen Whelan, Post graduate student.
Rolls without Royce!
Just like the radio advert says it’s
impossible to think of one without the
other and now the same can be said in
the case of Irish Beef about BQAS – Bord
Bia’s Beef Quality Assurance Scheme.
Over the years the Quality Assurance Scheme
has evolved from being a confirmatory
scheme documenting Ireland’s great farm
practices into a robust safeguard provision
to protect our brand against food scares
to taking up carbon foot printing mantle
today. That’s a dual benefit in that it clearly
demonstrates our uniquely clean farming
methods of grassland farming and at the
same time places our green credentials to the
fore when such will probably form part of
future CAP payments.
The industry bonus of 6c/kg for BQAS or
approximately €20 a head or €320 on a load
of cattle is a significant figure. The European
retail market demands Quality Assurance and
in order to market your cattle and negotiate
best price and then achieve the best return
you need to be members. In these days
where pay cuts are the talk of the town,
€20 / head premium for meeting market
expectations is to be welcomed. As a country
we need to be at the top of our game in this
area.
DawnDirect
Dawn Meats support
Teagasc Talks
Dawn Meats employees have been out
and about across the country supporting
various Teagasc meetings. Paul Nolan and
Peter Quinn told audiences at Fermoy
and Kilkenny Marts of the challenges
with cattle supply over the coming
months, as well as demonstrating how
to assess grading of finished stock
through live demonstrations.
Dawn Meats Group Procurement Contacts
Peter Quinn
Paul Mullaney
Conor Howley
John Neville
Micheál Murphy
Sean Behan
Kevin Cullinane
Anthony Dowd
Noel McDonnell
Declan Keely
Roger Ryan
Meadow Meats, Rathdowney
Dawn Charleville
Dawn Charleville
Dawn Waterford/Charleville
Dawn Waterford/Charleville
Dawn Grannagh
Dawn Grannagh
Dawn Ballyhaunis Beef
Dawn Ballyhaunis Beef
Dawn Ballyhaunis Beef & Lamb
Dawn Ballyhaunis Lamb
086 2611816
087 9614323
087 9113953
087 2232469
086 2456413
087 2561836
087 4192123
087 2625090
087 2576634
087 2244681
087 2534327
Quality Assurance
Don’t forget to sign up now for the Bord Bia Quality Assurance
Scheme in order to continue to secure premium markets for Irish beef
and lamb!
Our new mobile shop made its debut at the
National Ploughing Championships 2011 in
Athy and what a successful show we had! It
was a great opportunity to promote our online
butcher shop www.thepremiumbutcher.ie
and to meet many of our suppliers and indeed
customers from around the country.
Peter Quinn speaking at Fermoy Mart.
Further north, Sarah Long and Declan
Keeley spoke at the Winter Feeding
meeting for farmers in the County
Westmeath and County Offaly region.
Sarah spoke of the importance of
correct feeding in relation to fat and the
implications of overfeeding both in terms
of excess input costs on the farm, and the
challenges this presents in the factory in
both quality and quantity of saleable meat.
Marathon Man
Look out for us in 2012 as we will be attending various
Food Fairs and Agricultural Shows and keep an eye on
our website for upcoming events.
The Premium Butcher is also the proud sponsor of two local rugby teams in Waterford; Waterpark RFC
men’s senior team and Waterford City RFC ladies team! We wish both teams a very successful season!
For those of you in the South East, drop in and visit our
factory shop at Carroll’s Cross in Kilmacthomas for a
wide selection of fabulous meats, party food, relishes,
chutneys, great seasonal offers and more!
Clive Carter,
Sales Manager, The Premium Butcher Factory Shop
Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter
and keep up to date with all our latest news and offers!
Did you know? . . . .
At the recent BDCI Annual Charity Dinner,
Dawn Meats donated an official painting
of HRM Queen Elizabeth II historic visit to
Ireland.
Marcus Sherreard - Sales Director at Dawn
Group Cross Hands, Wales pictured recently
participating in the Dublin City Marathon. He
crossed the line in a personal best of 3 hours
and 36 minutes. Marcus ran in aid of the very
worthy cause The Meat Industry BDCI Charity
and you can read all about the great work they
do by logging onto: www.bdci.uk.com
The painting, by Irish artist Michael Hanrahan, raised
£14,000 on the night and depicts one of the most
endearing moments of recent Anglo-Irish history.
Infused with the air of conviviality that marked Her
Majesty’s visit to the internationally famous English
Market in Cork city, this is one of only seven official
paintings that record key moments of the historic
three-day visit in May 2011. Two other paintings in
the series are held in Her Majesty’s Royal collection
and in the gallery of the President of Ireland.