The last 12 months will go down as memorable in terms of beef price, with prices hovering almost €2/kg ahead of last year’s price for much of 2025.

That said, there has been a downward trend in recent weeks, which has soured the sentiment a little.

There has been 50c/kg wiped off base prices in the last few weeks, with winter finishers looking to the spring with particular in trepidation.

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This week’s beef trade is along a similar line to where last week was, with the majority of cattle that were purchased for processing this week already purchased last week.

Most factories are killing only two or three days this week, with a number back to two days for the following week.

Base prices are working off €7.10/kg to €7.20/kg for bullocks, with heifers moving at a base price of €7.20/kg to €7.30/kg.

There are side deals also being completed for those with numbers, with as high as €7.40/kg being paid for larger loads of heifers this week.

The Aberdeen Angus bonus appears to be under continued pressure, with some processors pointing to a 10c/kg bonus in the new year.

Most plants are still paying 20c/kg for in-spec cattle for the next two weeks.

Cows

Cow quotes continue to be under pressure, with some agents quoting lower quotes for this week.

P+3 cows are coming in at €6.40/kg to €6.50/kg. Good O grades with flesh are still making €6.50/kg to €6.70/kg, with quality R grading cows coming in at €6.70/kg to €6.80/kg and a little above it in some locations.

Well-fleshed U grading cows are still coming in at €7.00/kg in some factories this week.

The mart is still the place if you have small numbers of cows to sell, with top-quality cows still making close to €4/kg in some marts this week.

The trade in young bulls also eased. The going rate being offered for R grading bulls is in the region of €7.30/kg to €7.40/kg, with U grading bulls touching €7.30/kg, while P and O grading bulls are coming in at €7.10/kg to €7.20/kg.

Throughput

The current picture with the national kill in 2025 is that it is back almost 207,000 head when calves are included.

For the last number of months, the weekly kill has been back 600 to 8000 head on the back of tighter supplies of prime cattle.

Calf slaughterings dropped back to 3,364 head in 2025, down from 20,826 for the same period in 2024. The cow kill saw a big drop with almost 90,000 fewer cows slaughtered in 2025 compared with the same period in 2024.