Irish milk processor Glanbia Ireland and Irish food company Kepak Group have announced a new pilot calf breeding program called the Twenty20 Beef Club.

As partner companies stated, this program will provide participants with a guaranteed market for their heifers and cows with a “predictable and transparent pricing formula during slaughter”; a production plan supported by safe and reliable high-quality farm resources and advanced technical advice.

For customers and consumers, the Kepak Twenty20 Beef Club will provide a safe and predictable supply of high-quality beef with unrivaled traceability and attributes of the closed-loop supply chain. This year will be a pilot for a program supplying 6,000 calves from dairy farms supplier Glanbia Ireland. And for the coming years, Glanbia Ireland and Kepak Group have ambitious plans to quickly increase the number of deliveries to 50,000 heads per year.

Program participants can be either dairy farmers or meat producers supplying at least 25 calves. For animals enrolled in the program during the first two years, the average market price plus a club bonus of 15 to 25 cents per kilogram will be paid, as well as a club bonus under the protocol of 12 cents per kilogram.

Program members will also receive additional price support in the event of a weak market price. There will also be a seasonal bonus to promote animal marketing in April (6 cents per kg), May (10 cents per kg) and June (6 cents per kg). The technical teams of Glanbia and Kepak will support livestock nutritional support for participating farmers.