It’s been another tough week for farmers finishing cattle, with factories continuing the downward trend with beef quotes for the sixth week in a row.

Quotes are now sitting 60c/kg or over €200/head lower than they were at the beginning of February.

Winter finishers continue to count their losses, with some agents counting killing cattle as a favour to some of their clients, with delays of seven to 10 days being encountered in some processing sites.

ADVERTISEMENT

Bullocks have dropped back to €6.60/kg base price, with heifers now moving at €6.70/kg, also a drop of 10c/kg on last week’s quotes.

Foyle Meats in Donegal is working off a base of €6.80/kg for bullocks and €6.85/kg for heifers killing out between 300kg and 400kg, but there is still a wait to get cattle killed.

Foyle is still opting not to pay any Aberdeen Angus bonus presently, with a review of the bonus structure currently being undertaken by the group.

Regular suppliers and those dealing in numbers are still working off 20c to 30c/kg more, with contract finishers also working off a better price.

Breed bonuses are still on the table, with most processors currently working off a 15c/kg to 20c/kg bonus for in-spec Hereford cattle and a 20c/kg bonus for in-spec Aberdeen Angus cattle.

Cows

R grading cows are being priced at €6.30/kg to €6.40/kg.

U grading cows are now being bought at €6.70/kg, back 10c/kg in the last seven days.

O grading cows are being bought for €6.10/kg to €6.20/kg.

P+3 cows are coming in at €6.00/kg to €6.10/kg, with some factories quoting lower for very light cows.

R grading bulls are coming in at €6.80/kg to €6.90/kg and U grading bulls are being quoted at €7.00/kg, although bulls are in short supply, with low numbers being killed.

There are a number of operators still able to squeeze €7/kg for mixtures of R and U grading bulls.

O grading bulls are working off an all-in price of €6.50/kg to €6.70/kg, while P grading bulls are being quoted at €6.40/kg to €6.50/kg, depending on weight and flesh cover. Under-16-month bulls are working off a €6.70/kg base price on the grid.

Kill numbers

The kill has remained remarkably stable since the second week of January, bobbing around the 31,000 head figure every week.

This year’s kill is currently running just under 63,000 head behind the same period in 2025.

Delays in getting cattle killed over the last two weeks have continued into this week and will likely continue into the Easter period.

Across the water, R4L bullocks are coming in at 636p/kg (€7.66/kg including VAT), with heifers coming in at 633p/kg (€7.62/kg including VAT). The British cattle kill is also down 4,000 to 5,000 head a week when compared with 2025 kill numbers.

National beef event

The Irish Farmers Journal will hold a national beef markets information meeting on Monday 30 March at 7.30pm in the Abbeyleix Manor hotel in Abbeyleix, Co Laois (R32 VE24).

The event will hear from speakers from the industry including the Irish Farmers Journal, Teagasc, Bord Bia and the Irish Farmers Association. This important meeting will outline key market information, including a market outlook for the rest of 2026. The event is free to attend. Register your attendance by scanning the QR code.