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Supplies of finished cattle remain tight and factory agents are chasing numbers to maintain throughput. That puts farmers with in-spec cattle in a strong position to negotiate on price, especially if there is the option to offload animals through the live ring.
Price deals are slowly edging upwards, despite factories leaving official quotes unchanged on 454p to 460p/kg for U-3 grading animals.
The lack of movement on base price is an ongoing cause of frustration for farmers selling cattle through native breed schemes as bonus payments apply on top of official quotes.
Base quotes bear no resemblance to the deals on offer for conventional cattle. Reports indicate 484p and 486p/kg is freely available as an opening price for in-spec animals.
Steers are generally moving at 486p/kg, with regular finishers indicating there is another 2p to 4p/kg on offer, depending on numbers available.
Heifers are moving around 488p/kg, although higher prices can be secured on butcher-type animals.
Young bulls continue to move at 478p to 480p/kg, with some farmers being offered steers prices for animals meeting certain specs.
In the live ring, numbers are also limited and factory agents are competing with specialist finishers for fat cattle.
Prices for U grading animals continue to hover around 280p to 290p/kg, which equates to deadweight prices of 490p to just over 500p/kg.
Last week, the average price paid on steers and heifers of all grades slipped 0.3p to 471.93p/kg. However, prices for U3 grading animals increased.
Steers jumped 4.6p to 488.2p/kg, with heifers up 1.8p to 488.1p/kg, while young bulls rose by 3.6p to 477.9p/kg. That puts NI prices on par with those in Britain.
Cows
Cull cows remain a solid trade, with deals approaching 400p/kg for good-quality young suckler types. Older and plainer cows are selling back around 370p/kg for R grading animals. Last week, R3 cows averaged 378.2p/kg, with O3 animals on 358.2p/kg.
NI sheep: base quotes up 20p/kg
Lamb prices have increased this week, as marts benefit from buying demand from cross-channel buyers.
To keep pace, some plants increased quotes by 20p to 600p/kg, but deals of 620p/kg are available.
In Gortin, lambs sold to £164 for 31.5kg, £158 for 30kg, £152 for 34kg and 22kg to £117.50.
Kilrea sold 1,000 lambs from 542p to 598p/kg, down by 6p/kg for heavier sorts. Lambs at 23kg made £137.50, 26kg to £150, 23.5kg made £134.50, 22kg made £124, 21kg at £117 and the best store lambs at 16kg made £94.50.
In Markethill, 900 head sold from 540p to 582p/kg, up 10p/kg on last week with heavy lambs at £145 for 24.9kg and 24.4kg at £142. Mid-weight lambs at 21kg made £121 and 23.5kg at £134.50. Strong stores at 14.8kg made £87.
In Saintfield, 880 head sold from 540p to 645p/kg, up 10p to 25p/kg on last week.
In Ballymena, £158 was paid for 26kg, £143 for 25kg, £139 for 24kg, £134 for 23kg and £136 for 22kg.
Fat ewes
The trade for fat ewes is also strong this week. In Gortin, ewes topped £266, with a run from £130 to £260.
In Kilrea, the top was £212. In Markethill, a strong trade saw fleshed ewes topping £214, with the main run on £136 to £189 with plainer types on £95 to £132.
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