Cow beef worth around £600,000 is being 'wasted' every week because cull cows are going through

the national fallen stock scheme, rather than entering the food chain.

As well as a national farmgate loss of more than £30m each year, the extra fallen stock numbers are removing around 32,000 tonnes of beef per year

from the human food chain. This would be worth some £96m at retail level at

current prices.

"Cull cows entering the human food chain as cow beef numbered more than 6,000 in May, but around 2,000 are still going into the fallen stock scheme," said MLC beef economist Duncan Sinclair.

"Even at the least valuable Grade 4 cull cow prices of around 50p/kg, every animal disposed of as fallen stock represents a farm loss of around £300, removing an important contributor towards net herd replacement costs," he added.

Following the introduction of new EU hygiene rules, which allow only healthy animals or those meeting with a genuine accident to enter the food chain, official figures show some 2,000 additional animals per week go through the fallen stock scheme.

Whereas diseased, injured or unfit-to-travel culls would previously have earned compensation through the Over Thirty Month scheme, these

animals have become worthless. Sinclair said farmers could be missing out by not getting the vet in.

"In some instances it would be financially viable for farmers to get these animals fit and to sell them into the food chain, rather than opting for the fallen stock scheme."

For common problems such as mastitis and lameness, cows could often be treated cheaply without any welfare issues, he added.

As the cost of using the fallen stock scheme is set to double (see opposite), it will become increasingly important for farmers to consider treatment for their animals. The National Beef Association's Robert Forster said farmers were aware of this and predicted a rise in the proportion of livestock reaching the food chain.

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