BMC hits record slaughter figures

MBONGENI MGUNI
Staff Writer | Thursday January 27, 2011 00:00

 

Last year, the BMC's Lobatse, Francistown, and to a lesser extent, Maun abattoirs slaughtered 179, 009 cattle, a 32 percent increase on the numbers processed in 2009. The closest the Commission came to the 2010 figures was in 2007 when it slaughtered 171, 231 cattle. The figures for 2010 were almost 19, 000 higher than targets set for the year and were in line with the BMC's hopes of eventually processing 300, 000 cattle, which would represent full utilisation of capacity.

On Wednesday, new BMC CEO, David Falepau, told Mmegi the higher throughput would have a profound impact on the Commission's costs of production and that the higher figures were as a result of the strategies employed within the industry. 'We have a fixed labour force, which means we employ people to slaughter 650 cattle per day whether or not we have that,' he said. 'So for us to operate efficiently, we need to kill those 650. Going below that makes it more expensive per head to slaughter. Our target will be around 230, 000 to 250, 000 at which we would be operating at maximum in terms of our labour. Throughput is thus very important for the BMC and the industry as a whole, in terms of the capacity utilised and the efficiency.'

Last year's throughput was strongly influenced by the swell in prices dating back to 2008, enticing farmers to bring their beasts for slaughter at the BMC as opposed to private butcheries and other arrangements.  However, the Direct Cattle Purchase Scheme (DCP) that started in 2009 is credited with making the biggest difference to the number of animals delivered for slaughter at the BMC.

Under the scheme, the BMC purchases cattle at feedlots and in the field at designated locations and publicised dates. With a specific focus on young cattle, the DCP has increased cattle figures to the BMC, raised prices for young cattle owing to healthy competition from producers and improved the Commission's production planning.

'Rather than farmers rearing them for five years, we decided, through the DCP, to purchase the animals at weights too light for slaughter and feedlot them,' said Falepau. 'We are trying to purchase more calves and less older cattle to increase the national turnoff from where it is now at between 12 to 15 percent. In developed countries, they wean animals at 250 kilogrammes, then put them on farms to feed on grass to 380 kilogrammes, then feedlot to 420 kilogrammes.

'Their turn-off is about 25 percent. In Botswana, people keep more older animals instead of more calves. Part of the DCP is to encourage people to sell at younger ages.'  Turn-off refers to numbers of cattle either sold or taken into feedlots in a given year, the higher turn-off indicating higher numbers of younger cattle which are preferred in the EU, Botswana's prime export destination.