Earlier this month, a spat erupted between farmers and meat processors, over new charges and penalties that farm groups believe are arbitrary and unnecessary. Chief amongst these are plans by two processors to charge farmers a penalty of around £60 per head for cattle that have been moved over three times during their lives.

Now, auctioneers have said they will not give information on movements until they receive greater clarity from processors.

Farmers’ groups have said the new restrictions are penalising the producer to the benefit of the processor, claiming that there is no evidence of any benefit being passed onto consumers. Reacting to the news earlier in November, National beef Association (NBA) chief executive Chris Mallon said, “There needs to be clear justification for enforcing a penalty on the number of moves an animal has made and there also needs to be clarification on what constitutes a move as far as the dead weight specification is.”

On 10th November, the Livestock Auctioneers Association (LAA) said finishers have begun asking auction marts to display details of the number of movements for cattle when they are selling them at market, but the Association said its marts will not supply information on movements until abattoirs had clarified exactly what constitutes a movement.

Chris Dodds, Executive Secretary of the LAA, said “We need to know what the abattoirs consider a movement to be. We know that moves through markets and to abattoirs don't count, but is the move to a different CPH the same as a change in keepership?”

He added, “[Auctioneers] can’t afford to provide information that is potentially different to what's looked for further down the chain, and that leads to a deadweight deduction at the abattoir. Until we get clarity, marts will not announce the number of moves animals have completed. Abattoirs need to communicate their needs clearly and consistently.”

Some farm groups and buyers’ representatives have suggested the movement penalties are down to supermarket buying policies, which means stock that have been moved more than four times will not meet certain conditions and could be less valuable.

However, speaking on 4th November, NBA’s Mr Mallon said, “The [voluntary code of practice] has now been in place for over a year and we are still seeing the processors imposing implausible restrictions and penalties on the producers with no, or very little, notice.

“The penalties which have been brought in by processors over the last week is just the latest evidence to show that no voluntary code will ever work to control meat processors, Dunbia are not a signatory to the code but St Merryn Meats were the first to sign up to the voluntary code and the first to break it.”

Mr Mallon added, “The NBA does not believe that the voluntary code is enough to provide stability to the industry. Any code - whether voluntary or not - needs to have an ability to police itself and have enforcement powers.”

Speaking to Farming Online on Monday, NBA chair David Tomlinson said suppliers could have bought cattle in the last few months with no idea that processors had plans to introduce penalties on movements. He agreed that there is a need for an ombudsperson to provide oversight for such far-reaching changes and ensure farmers are treated fairly.