Easter Springs at Aldi For a third year in succession, Dawn Meats are delighted to make prime Irish Spring Lamb available to Aldi customers for their Easter celebrations.

Over 40 of our lamb suppliers have blended their expertise, experience and hard work to have their lambs born in early January and finished in time to provide the traditional Easter Sunday lunch.

Dawn Meats is very pleased to spearhead this early lambing initiative as it allows us to develop closer working relationships with both our suppliers and customers in developing the home market for Irish lamb which is worth in excess of €150m annually.

Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) were crowned winners of the 4th Annual Great Agri-Food debate, organised by Dawn Meats and McDonald’s Ireland, as students from seven third-level colleges around Ireland gathered in WIT to discuss some of the most topical issues facing the industry.

Over two days, teams from WIT, University College Dublin (UCD), University College Cork (UCC), Cork Institute of Technology, Queens University Belfast, IT Tralee and CAFRE, Loughry Campus debated motions including “Farming in Ireland Should be Scaled Back to Meet Climate Change Commitments”, ” Plastic Packaging is a Scourge of the Food Supply Chain” and “The World Can’t Feed 10bn People and Prevent Catastrophic Climate Change”.

The event culminated in a well fought, heated debate between home team WIT and CAFRE on the motion “Vegan Diets are Better for People and Planet”.

Commenting after the debate, Niall Browne, CEO Dawn Meats said; “Every year at this debate, there are new and complex motions that deserve the attention of our industry. Again this year, we have a strong cohort of students whose insights, intelligence and enthusiasm make me really

positive about the future of Irish agriculture. Hearty congratulations to the winning team, and my thanks to our partners McDonald’s and all the participants, judges and moderators for making this event such a success.”

Elaine Sterio, McDonald’s UK & Ireland said “It’s wonderful to see this event grow year on year. McDonald’s in Ireland works in close partnership with quality producers the length and breadth of the country and through this debate, we are also able to engage with the next generation of farmer suppliers. The topic of changing diets is particularly pertinent, as McDonald’s continues to innovate its offering in Irish restaurants.”

WIT’s Michael Martin won the Best Speaker Prize in the final. Simon Lanigan, UCD and Meg Minihane, UCC, were awarded Best Speaker in the two semi-final debates.

The final debate was moderated by Bord Bia CEO Tara McCarthy and the judging panel included Niall Browne, CEO, Dawn Meats; H.E. Deike Potzel, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Ireland; Brendan Gleeson, Sec. General, Dept. of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Pamela Byrne, CEO Food Safety Authority of Ireland.

The Great Agri-Food Debate

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Newford Notes2019 in Newford is, like all farms, off to a great start thanks to the mild days and relatively few frosty nights to date which, if not at times ideal for finishing stock in sheds, has been great for calving.

Newford has so far had 105 cows calve leaving us with 103 calves on the ground including 4 sets of twins and the loss of six calves - two still births, two at birth, one in utero and one with pneumonia.

These yields coupled with excellent grass growth in Newford running at 51 kg DM/ha and some paddocks now away for silage at 27 kg DM/ha have given Aidan Heavy the best possible start to his new fulltime roll on the farm.

Matthew Murphy has moved to the Dawn Meats agri-team where he will manage additional agri-projects, whilst continuing to oversee the Newford farm programme.

Lamb producer Peter Sheridan from Roscommon tending his Aldi Spring Lamb flock in excellent early spring weather conditions

Farm Walkin & Talkin' Foodex JapanOver 4,000 of Ireland's secondary school leavers have had the opportunity to visit farms throughout the country in March, where they got a first-hand view of aspects of Ireland's agri-food and drinks industry thanks to Agri-Aware and its patrons.

Paul Nolan represented Dawn Meats at Teagasc Kildalton and Lyons UCD where he contextualised the Irish beef industry, outlined its standing and achievements and majored on job opportunities for the next generation. Ireland's most important indigenous industry faces many challenges on an ongoing basis but with that comes scope for new thinking and innovation which drives new product development and opens up new routes to market.

With so much talk about Brexit, it is important to recognise Europe's ability to do significant global deals from which we can benefit and no better example than the recent agreement with Japan.

This agreement sees the restrictive import duties on approved EU beef sources rowing back from 38.5% over the coming years.

Dawn Meats recommenced exports of beef to Japan in 2014 and this further liberalisation of trade will improve access and affordability for our Japanese customers.

Siring Winners With the national dairy herd experiencing rapid and unprecedented growth, the use of high genetic merit dairy bulls for the production of replacement stock is essential to ensure the remaining stock, not required by dairy farmers, can be finished efficiently through beef finishing systems.

Eager to assist, Dawn Meats is working closely with Teagasc and ICBF on a number of farms in the production of beef from dairy calves to identify suitable bulls for inclusion in the Dairy Beef Sire Index. The sires used are recorded and the best stock bulls will be identified for use on dairy farms in succeeding years to avoid the production of unsuitable dairy offspring some of which we are seeing already. More on this later in the year.

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Angus AnglesDawn Meats and Angus Beef Ireland (ABI) organised lunchtime talks on market requirements, soil management and animal welfare on 3 Angus producer farms in Cork, Laois and Waterford in recent weeks.

An average of 25 producers attended each of the talks to hear from Dawn Meats, Devonish and Elanco Vets, take questions and discuss important aspects of beef production focused on sustainability, efficiency, welfare and margin.

We are pleased with the feedback and would like to particularly thank Angus farmers James Grace, Joe Hyland and Jer McSweeney for hosting the talks and ABI for their assistance. We look forward to organising further events for our Angus producers later this year.

Dawn Meats was recognised at the prestigious Green Awards 2019 held at the Clayton Hotel in Dublin, winning “Sustainability Team of the Year" in front of an audience of close to 450 industry professionals.

The awards ceremony, which has taken place each year for over a decade, recognises the contribution and commitment companies make towards growing a greener future in Irish business and provide a platform for sharing sustainability intelligence, leadership and innovation in best green practice in Ireland.

Dawn Meats holistic, team-led approach to sustainability was clearly communicated in its submission. Group wide, sustainability initiatives are coordinated by a team including the CEO and draw on the Engineering/Environmental team which recently achieved ISO 50001 certification; operations (including LEAN); Agriculture; Procurement; HR and the Community and Charity teams. These teams drive the sustainability agenda across multiple platforms and via participation in a range of initiatives, including the Newford Suckler Beef Demonstration Farm; the Better Farm

Programme; the Young Beef Farmer Sustainability Programme; the European Round Table for Beef Sustainability; the Government CSR Forum; the SDG Forum; Bord Bia’s Diversity and Inclusion Taskforce; and BITC’s Low Carbon and Social Inclusion working groups.

David O’Flynn Head of CSR at Dawn Meats commented: “We published our first sustainability plan 10 years ago this year, so it has been a key theme for us for over a decade. We have ambitious 2025 targets to reduce water and energy intensity by 40% and CO2 emission intensity by 50%. None of this would be possible without the commitment of the whole team and this award is even more appreciated because it recognises the Group wide effort. 2025 is fast approaching, and we will continue to keep a close eye on our targets to ensure that we meet and exceed them where possible.”

At the ceremony, awards were presented in categories including Green Business of the Year, Green Leader, Green Construction Award, Green Food & Beverage Award, Green Technology Award and Sustainable Energy Achievement Award.

Sustainability Team of the Year

Better Farms

Waterford suckler and sheep farmer Maurice Hearne hosted a Better Farm Beef Challenge Walk on his 82 ha farm near Passage East earlier this month. Despite

the dip in temperature on the day, over 30 farmers attended, including Dawn Meats representatives Kevin Cullinane and Eleanor Nolan. Appreciative of the update from Maurice, the group asked many pertinent questions regarding grassland management, the 2018 weather challenge and current beef prices.

Maurice outlined the changes and investments made since joining the Better Farm Beef Challenge in 2017, commenting that things would be significantly worse had he not invested in improvements to his farm efficiencies, particularly in terms of soil and grassland management from which he hopes to see improved returns very soon.

CATEX 2019Dawn Meats Foodservice exhibited at CATEX 2019 in the RDS Dublin from 26-28th February. The event which is held annually is Ireland’s largest foodservice and hospitality networking show and provided Dawn Meats Foodservice with an essential platform to promote our products and services directly to many of the key decision makers and buyers.

Our sales team made the most of this opportunity to network with existing and prospective clients as well as launching their new Foodservice Product Catalogue in tandem with their Foodservice App which is being well received.

Pictured at the event, butcher John Dunne skilfully providing beef and lamb demonstrations to the crowds.

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If you require further information please contact our procurement team:

Anthony Dowd Dawn Ballyhaunis Beef 087 2625090Mervyn Foley Dawn Ballyhaunis Beef/Lamb 087 2570783Roger Ryan Dawn Ballyhaunis Lamb 087 2534327Paul Mullaney Dawn Charleville 087 9614323Daniel Bergin Dawn Charleville 087 9178779Conor Howley Dawn Charleville 087 9113953Micheál Murphy Dawn Charleville 086 245 6413Peter Quinn Meadow Meats, Rathdowney 086 2611816Sean Behan Dawn Grannagh 087 2561836Kevin Cullinane Dawn Grannagh 087 4192123Walter Cleary Dawn Grannagh 087 7382295John Neville Dawn Grannagh/Charleville 087 2232469Niall Grufferty Dawn Slane 086 8937517Sarah Gogarty Dawn Slane 086 0485145

Procurement Contacts

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Building Business in ChinaOur Charleville plant has been approved for beef exports to China since early 2018 and we have been very pleased with the reception and feedback received from customers on the quality of our beef products. In anticipation of further plant approvals, we sent our China Sales and Marketing Team on a fact finding mission last month to a number of Chinese cities in order to improve our understanding of the Chinese culture around beef marketing, purchasing, cooking and consumption. Market insight is key to our long term strategy in China as we seek to maintain a premium position for Irish beef and improve market access so that the ever increasing demand for quality products can be sustained into the future.

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A Culture of Food SafetyThe challenges faced by the food industry have never been greater. Our customers and consumers are expecting the highest possible levels of transparency as to the origins of their food. They are expecting our products to be completely safe, for all aspects of our processes to be of the highest possible standards and for us to treat animals in our care with the appropriate compassion prior to slaughter.

If we deviate from these expectations at any point it will erode that trust with our customers and this is something we cannot afford to happen. This is why we have put food safety, quality and animal welfare at the core of everything we do. In order to be industry leading in this vision, we have to embrace innovation and continue to challenge ourselves, to ensure we remain to the forefront in this area.

As part of delivering this vision, Dawn Meats held its 3rd annual Food Safety Week from 11-15th February. The week focused on highlighting the importance of Food Safety and how it requires all employees to work together to ensure that the high level of standards are continually met. Topics covered during the week included:

• PPE (Personal Protection Equipment)• Labelling• Chemical Hazards• Equipment and Foreign Bodies• Cleaning

Waterford Chamber Business Award

Waste Week 2019

Dawn Meats were delighted to be awarded for Training and People Development at the Waterford Business Awards on 8th March at the Tower Hotel by Mayor of Waterford City & County, Cllr Declan Doocey.

Commenting at the gala dinner, Mayor Doocey said: “The nominated companies are all winners and more importantly we are proud to have them as Ambassadors for Waterford. If we continue to work together and use that same determination these people show in business to create a better

collaborative business community for Waterford and the wider region, there is nothing we cannot achieve.”

Dawn Meats held a dedicated Waste Week from 21-25th of January across all of its sites.

The aim of the initiative was to reduce where possible, single-use plastics across all sites, as well as to raise awareness amongst employees of the environmental impact in doing so, in both their home and work environments.

Plastic bottles were removed from all sites and employees were each given a ‘Keep Cup’ to encourage a culture of re-use. Mobile phone recycling was also encouraged and the money raised from the initiative was donated to the Laura Lynn Foundation.

Pictured with the award from Dawn Meats (l-r): Sylvia Guadino, David Lyons, Nicola O’ Gorman, John O’ Shea & Paul Nolan.