This week, eleven livestock buyers and feedlot owners travelled to Ireland with Bord Bia on an Irish cattle-focussed itinerary. Bord Bia provided the group with a presentation on the Irish cattle output and breeds highlighting the grass-based production system, the Bord Bia Quality Assurance Scheme and the Origin Green Sustainability programme. Over two days, the group visited four of the main livestock exporters to Spain, travelled to David Pearson’s suckler farm in Clogh, Ballacolla, Co. Laois and visited the Mountrath weanling mart on Thursday. In the first six months of this year, Spanish cattle imports increased by 37.6% reaching 263,365hd, when compared with the same period in 2013. This week’s inward visit follows a visit earlier this month by a group of influential food writers with a combined readership of over one million people, reaching key consumers across important Spanish retailers selling and promoting Irish beef.
The delegation is pictured with Cecilia Ruiz, Bord Bia’s Spanish Market Manager, at David Pearson’s farm in Laois.