Bord Bia are estimating a drop of 87,000 head or almost 1,700 cattle per week in 2025This is positive news for beef finishers, who are already reaping the rewards from reduced supplies in the first few weeks of 2025.
Bord Bia are estimating a drop of 87,000 head or almost 1,700 cattle per week in 2025
This is positive news for beef finishers, who are already reaping the rewards from reduced supplies in the first few weeks of 2025.
This reduction in supply is heavily weighted towards the first half of 2025, with supplies for quarter one back by 8% and supplies in quarter two back by 7%.
A 2% reduction is forecast for quarter three and quarter four is forecast to be back by 2%. This all adds up to a 5% reduction in finished cattle supplies in 2025.
The 2025 kill will see 64,000 fewer prime cattle killed, 8,000 fewer cows and 15,000 fewer other cattle killed.
It was also positive news on the price front in 2024, with the average Irish R3 bullock price increasing by 61c/kg from January 2024 to December 2024. Live exports also performed very well, with 379,491 head exported in 2024, up 18% on the 2023 number.
Carcase weights
Declining carcase weights remain a huge challenge for the industry and Bord Bia's Mark Zieg outlined some of these declines that have been taking place over the last few years.
Dairy-cross bullocks have reduced by 24kg over the last four years, while beef on dairy bullock carcase weights have reduced by 20kg over the last four years.
All categories of animals saw reductions in 2024, with the average bullock carcase weight dropping by 6.3kg - one of the largest drops in recent years. Heifer carcase weights reduced by 6kg in 2024.
An increasing proportion of the cattle supply coming from the dairy herd and cows in particular in 2024, along with difficult spring and summer in terms of grazing, all contributed to the lower weights in 2024.
An interesting point that was also highlighted is the fact that a lot of cattle destined for a spring 2025 finish were in fact killed forward in the back end of 2024 at younger ages and lighter carcase weights.
Cattle grades are also reducing as a function of the increased kill of dairy-cross progeny. Some 62% of the 2024 bullock kill graded an O or P, with a 1% decline in R grading bullocks in 2024.
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