Yet it is hard for them to dispute the National Beef Association's call to delay implementing the tightening of the Farm Assured British Beef and Lamb regime to prevent finished cattle becoming scarce and more expensive. The change would require cattle sold for slaughter from March 1 next year to have been farm assured for six months to qualify for the FABBL certification. The NBA points out this requires animals for finishing to be qualified from September 1. NBA chief executive Robert Forster said on Monday: "Worried feeders and the abattoirs they supply have told us there will not be enough qualified store animals on the market this autumn, and few finishers have the capacity to purchase and feed cattle for a full six months." The greatest concentration of assured farms is in the short-term finishing sector. Assurance is much less common in the breeding sector, This industry split means a birth-to-slaughter chain is not yet possible for all the processors' and retailers' raw material requirements. {{MEAT }}

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