The beef trade continues on its steady course this week, with huge changes to quotes across the board. Foyle Meats in Donegal is eager to stay ahead of the trade with its increase of 5c/kg for bullocks and heifers killing out between 300kg and 400kg. This brings its base quotes to €5.25/kg for bullocks and €5.30/kg for heifers.
The beef trade continues on its steady course this week, with huge changes to quotes across the board.
Foyle Meats in Donegal is eager to stay ahead of the trade with its increase of 5c/kg for bullocks and heifers killing out between 300kg and 400kg. This brings its base quotes to €5.25/kg for bullocks and €5.30/kg for heifers.
The general run of bullock quotes is running from €5.15/kg to €5.20/kg, with heifers working off €5.20/kg to €5.25/kg this week.
Numbers of finished cattle remain in tight supply, with a lot of factories now sourcing big numbers through mart sales.
A number of special sales of fat cattle in the south over the weekend saw factories dominating the trade, with some exceptional prices being paid for finished cattle in marts over the last seven days.
Factories continue to lay down big money for Aberdeen Angus cattle, with up to €5.60/kg on a flat price being paid for Aberdeen Angus heifers this week. Some factories are also quoting flat prices of €5.50/kg for loads of R grading bullocks.
Bull trade
The bull trade also remains solid, with €5.40/kg to €5.50/kg being paid for U grading under-24-month bulls this week in some locations, up 5c/kg on last week’s quotes.
Those with numbers have also been able to squeeze €5.60/kg out of some processors.
R grading bulls are being quoted at €5.30/kg to €5.40/kg, with a little more going to regular suppliers and those with numbers.
O grading bulls are generally being sold at €5.20/kg to €5.25/kg, while P grading bulls are working off €5.10/kg to €5.20/kg, depending on flesh cover.
Under-16-month bulls are generally working off base prices of €5.15/kg to €5.25/kg.
Cow prices
Well-fleshed P+3 cows are trading this week at €4.15/kg to €4.20/kg, depending on weight and quality.
O grading cows are working off €4.30/kg to €4.40/kg, depending on the processor, while good R grading cows are at €4.40/kg to €4.60/kg.
U grading cows are being quoted at €4.60/kg to €4.80/kg. Young cows and good-quality fleshed suckler cows are being bought at higher prices than factories are quoting.
Quotes in Northern Ireland are also moving up this week. Some larger finishers are holding cattle back for the first few days of the week to try to avail of the new £40/head finisher payment that kicks in on 1 February.
This has forced some NI factories to increase quotes to get sufficient supplies for the start of the week.
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