Beef Trends: heifers hit €7.20/kg base price

The beef trade continues to creep closer towards €8/kg this week, with quotes up another 5c to 10c/kg in a lot of locations.

Bullocks have kicked on to €6.90/kg in some locations, although there are still factories trying to buy bullocks at €6.80/kg, but not getting a lot at the lower price.

Heifers have moved up to a €7.00/kg to €7.10/kg base in almost all locations, with €7.20/kg now on the table where numbers are involved.

One factory in the south has bought heifers at a €7.25/kg base price for next week.

Next week’s shorter working week has, in the past, sometimes created issues with factories having leeway to put pressure on price.

The increase in base prices has also lifted flat prices, with €7.50/kg being paid for both Aberdeen Angus bullocks and heifers this week, again where larger numbers are involved.

Quotes of €7.30/kg to €7.40/kg are more common this week as a flat price for in-spec Aberdeen Angus bullocks and heifers. A huge number of cattle are now being purchased on a flat-rate basis, with many farmers not taking chances with the grid, especially for dairy-bred animals.

Quotes are moving by the day in some instances and farmers are advised to make sure to price around when selling cattle.

All sorts of deals are currently being done with leeway on movements, age, weight and many factories are now paying for haulage to guarantee the cattle will end up in their lairage

Cows

Cows continue to move in a positive direction, with €6.80/kg now on the table for well-fleshed R grading cows in the south of the country and €6.90/kg where bigger numbers are involved.

U grading cows are up to €6.90/kg to €7.00/kg, with O grading suckler cows making their way up to €6.50/kg to €6.60/kg in some factories.

O grading dairy cows are being quoted at €6.40/kg to €6.50/kg.

P+3 cows are working off €6.25/kg to €6.30/kg, depending on weight, age, flesh and numbers, with €6.35/kg paid to a few large feeders for P grading cows.

Heavy cull cows are regularly hitting €3,500 and over it at the moment in marts and for anybody with a small number of cows, the mart is still the best place to go.

Bulls

Under-24-month bulls are still working off €7.10/kg to €7.20/kg for U grading bulls and higher where larger numbers are involved.

Flat prices of as high as €7.30/kg have been paid to some larger suppliers this week for mixes of U and R grading bulls.

R grading bulls are at €7.00/kg to €7.10/kg, while O grading bulls are being bought at €6.70/kg to €6.80/kg. Under-16-month bulls are working off a base price of €6.80/kg to €6.90/kg before any QA bonus or grid payments are added.

Last week’s kill came in at just over 38,000 head, a drop of over 700 on the previous week.

Last week’s kill was running about 4,000 head over the same week in 2024 when there were just over 34,000 head killed.

Prices in the UK have continued to kick on, with £6.70 (€8.38/kg incl VAT) achievable this week at the top of the market. Finished cattle remain in short supply, with huge demand from the retail trade for in spec stock.

Northern Ireland

Tight supplies north of the border have resulted in base quotes rising 5p to 10p/kg on last week to 625p to 630p/kg (€7.82/kg to €7.88/kg) for U3 animals.

Deals have also been done for larger finishers at 635p/kg (€7.94/kg) for full loads of bullocks and heifers.

The numbers of cattle that are travelling to NI from ROI for direct slaughter each week continues to increase, with 516 cattle exported for direct slaughter last week.