A beef price of €4.54/kg will be needed next April for winter finishers to make any margin on cattle being purchased at the moment, analysis by the Irish Farmers Journal can show.

The analysis was completed using Martwatch data from the last eight weeks during September and October 2019.

It involves purchasing a 550kg Charolais steer at 20 months for €2.17/kg and finishing at 26 months of age on a diet of silage and meal next April.

The price of good quality store cattle is on a par with last year’s price levels, with Charolais steers in the same weight bracket just down €0.03/kg when compared with prices for September/October 2018 to September/October 2019.

This is in contrast to the beef price which is back €0.20-€0.25/kg when the same period is compared.

The figure of €4.54/kg includes a labour charge of €100/head, which translates into a base price of €4.16/kg if the animal meets all specifications and grades a U=3+. This is around €0.70/kg ahead of base prices being quoted this week at €3.45/kg.

On the ground, there seems to be no appetite for factories to issue forward contracts to winter finishers. Some factories are even slow to fill their own feedlots at the moment.

IFA national livestock chair Angus Woods said retailers and factories cannot expect farmers to produce beef at below the cost of production.

He said the recent Teagasc figures show how badly the current market is broken for farmers and highlights the urgent need for viable contract-type arrangements from factories for winter finishers.