Up to six-week delay in cattle processing

Processing capacity at meatworks around the country is returning to normal but a backlog remains.

There had been a backlog for months due to staffing shortages as workers isolated with Covid-19.

That made it harder for farmers to offload stock, which caused huge stress, especially in areas where feed levels were tight.

An update provided to farmers by Beef + Lamb NZ and the Meat Industry Association (MIA) showed staff levels were now returning to normal and capacity from plant to plant was ranging from 80 to 100 per cent.

MIA spokesperson Richard McColl said there currently wasn't any pressure on processors when it came to the sheep and lamb cull, but there was still about a four-to-six week delay in cattle processing.

"That said, we are still 1.5 million lambs behind last season, so there is still a lot to process, but it seems farmers are looking to hold onto them at the moment to put weight on them, especially in those areas where there is feed available."

McColl said there was a bit of concern about what would happen when bobby calves came into the processing stream.

"Bobby calves in the North Island come into the stream about mid-June and it's about a month later in the South Island so we are about three-to-four weeks away from the peak.

"There is concern that there is still a lot of lambs to kill and normally we would see a decrease in the amount of lambs coming through as the bobby numbers increase but that is not the case this year."

Farmers should keep in touch with their processors to be aware of delays, McColl said.

The industry, alongside the Ministry for Primary Industries, was also monitoring international supply chains as frozen meat stores around the country began to fill up.

McColl said the storage situation was not perfect - "we're just keeping our head above the water". He said it wouldn't take much for the situation to change so the industry was monitoring it closely.