The Irish Farmers' Association claims that factories are importing Brazilian beef and cattle from Northern Ireland to keep factory prices low.
IFA president Pádraig Walshe said despite the fact there are fewer cattle available to the factories here compared to last year, prices have continued to slide.
Beef farmers will lose over €100 per animal they prepare for the market due to the lower prices they are receiving from factories.
The Department of Agriculture's animal tracing system had shown that the number of cattle in the 18-30 month age group was 130,000 down on year earlier levels.
"The procurement managers and agents are in overdrive trying to control numbers and drive down prices," claimed Mr Walsh.
Last week, the Irish Cattle and Sheepfarmers' Association expressed its dismay at the report that a number of meat factories were importing cows for slaughter from Northern Ireland at a time when they were turning away cattle supplied by local producers.
"Although there is nothing illegal about this, factories are giving out mixed messages," said Robin Smith, the beef committee chairman of the organisation.
"It is very disappointing that on the one hand, factories are telling us that they are oversupplied with cattle, while on the other hand, they are bringing in Northern cows," he said.
"Factories need to decide whether they want winter finishing suppliers in the Republic or whether they simply want to be import-export merchants," he concluded.
In his statement, Mr Walshe was highly critical of the Irish factories which were importing Brazilian beef into Europe and on to the domestic market.
He said that in 2005, total beef imports into Ireland amounted to 32,000 tonnes worth €78.5 million, of which 8,759 tonnes were imported directly from Brazil.