Whatever happened to the importance of the fifth quarter?

There has long been a belief in the crucial importance of the meat industry’s fifth quarter to profitability. This somewhat obscure term refers to the co-products which contribute an essential revenue component over and above the value of the meat.

Lipstick doesn’t hide the ugly truth

Silver Fern Farms released its annual loss accompanied by a press release which attempted to put some gloss on what was in reality an awful result. It was an improvement on the year before, a matter of some pride on the teleconference this morning, but a $36.5 million loss was only $5.8 million less than the previous year.

Silver Fern Farms addresses capacity issues, but no progress on meat industry restructure

The only meat industry capacity rationalisation evident so far is beef not sheepmeat related. Silver Fern Farms has announced the closure of the beef chain at its Waitoa plant which it bought 18 months ago from Wallace Corporation in, what CEO Keith Cooper said at the time, was an essential contribution to the meat industry’s sustainability.