Factories have opted to squeeze the smaller finishers this week, with many now operating two-tier pricing systems.

The Department of Agriculture reported prices printed in the Irish Farmers Journal over the last two weeks suggest the prices paid were a long way off some of the quotes received by farmers last week. The smaller finisher at the moment is paying a 10-20c/kg penalty that is being handed back to larger operators to keep them coming with steady numbers of cattle.

Factories are trying their best to get quotes back another 10c/kg to a €4.80/kg base but are meeting more resistance this week as numbers remain tight on the ground. Some factories have had to move back to marts to source finished stock and this has seen a lift in prices of heavy cattle in marts over the last seven days.

Bullocks are generally being bought at €4.90/kg base price this week, with heifers working off €4.90-€4.95/kg. Aberdeen Angus and Hereford bonuses are being paid on top of these base prices on the grid.

Bull quotes

There is a wide range in bull quotes, with some factories trying to buy under-16-month bulls on Monday morning at €4.85/kg and others quoting €4.95/kg on the grid.

U-grading under-24-month bulls are being quoted from €4.95/kg to €5.05/kg, with R grading bulls coming in at €4.85/kg to €4.90/kg.

Cow prices

Cows are also working off a variety of quotes, depending on who you are, who you are dealing with and what numbers you have.

Some factories are very hungry for cows while others are concentrating more on prime cattle. The advice is to shop around.

Quotes this week are running at €4.80/kg for R grading cows, €4.60/kg for O grading cows and €4.30/kg to €4.40/kg for P grading cows.

Specialist producers and those dealing with numbers are still working off 10c to 20c/kg more than these quotes.

The mart trade for heavy cows is still very strong, with factory agents continuing to be very active around rings, paying as far as €2.80/kg live for heavy cows. That still leaves these cows needing over €5/kg to get out.

Kill

Last week’s kill came in at just over 33,000 head. This was up 1,000 head on the previous week, with most of the increase coming in the bullock category. There were an extra 1,200 bullocks killed last week.

The shifting dynamics of the Irish cattle kill from a predominantly suckler base to more dairy stock has meant more lighter are carcases coming through the system.

This is especially true this year where animals have been drafted little earlier due to big demand from factories in May and June and farmers cashing in on stock when the price was high.

In terms of throughput, one procurement manager I was speaking to this week said that he needed to kill five to six dairy-bred stock for every four suckler-bred heifers so higher numbers doesn’t necessarily mean higher tonnage anymore.

The British trade is very solid, with an increased cow kill in the last few weeks on the back of very strong manufacturing beef demand.

R4L heifers hit €5.70/kg last week which is now 50c/kg ahead of the Irish price or almost €200/head on a 380kg heifer. Prices across Europe have also steadied in the last week.

NI comment

Finished cattle are holding firm in Northern Ireland, despite the best efforts of factories to pull quotes by 4p/kg to 426p/kg (€5.28/kg inc VAT).

Prime steers and heifers are making 448p to 452p/kg (€5.55 to €5.58/kg) with R grading cows around 400p/kg (€4.96/kg).