At the beginning of October, I paid a visit to one of the largest livestock shows in Europe, the Sommet de l’Élevage in Clermont-Ferrand in the south of France.
It’s very similar to the Irish Ploughing Championships except it takes place in a purpose-built venue with several stadium-like viewing arenas for the judging to take place.
It’s a popular haunt for Irish breeders every year and this year being the year of the Charolais breed, it attracted a number of pedigree Charolais breeders from Irish shores. The four-day event is almost completely centred around livestock with over 2,000 animals on show (1,300 cattle, 400 sheep and 300 horses).
Twenty-two cattle breeds are involved in the event, along with 26 sheep breeds and 16 horse breeds. The show site itself stretches to almost 50 acres and over 1,500 exhibitors welcomed 105,000 people including 5,000 international visitors through the gates during the week.
The show is located in the heart of the Massif Central, one of the largest beef breeding regions in Europe, so a huge emphasis is placed on the suckler cow.
While visiting the show, I also got the chance to visit a large cattle exporting centre exporting 30,000 weanlings on an annual basis. France is home to 4.2m suckler cows and 3.5m dairy cows and the country exports close to 1.5m cattle on an annual basis. Many of the live exports take place through farmer-owned co-ops.
Covido Bovi Co-op is a co-operative organisation owned by farmers located 40k, to the north of the city of Clermont-Ferrand. This co-op is part of the Sicarev co-op, which has 11 similar groups of farmers throughout France involved in the export and slaughtering of cattle.
There are about 7,500 farmers involved in the 11 co-ops located in the middle of France. The 11 co-ops export 230,000 weanlings on an annual basis to countries such as Spain and Italy and they also own four slaughtering plants slaughtering 150,000 cattle annually.
They are also involved with farm-to-farm sales between French farmers and, in total, procure 384,000 cattle annually from French farms. The co-op also offers technical support and advice to farmers in areas, such as production costs, breeding, nutrition, animal health, farm building design and on the purchase of inputs.
The co-op which I visited deals with 54,000 cattle on an annual basis. This is made up of 30,000 for export, 19,500 cattle for slaughter, 200 breeding animals for export and 5,000 calves for contract rearing for veal/beef.
The co-op has a purpose-built exporting yard that has the capacity to house 1,000 animals at any one time during the week. It employs 25 to 30 people depending on the time of year. This is made up of 10 drivers collecting and delivering stock, five technicians working in the yard and 10 buyers out in the country sourcing cattle.
Weanlings are collected on farms at the beginning of each week from Monday to Wednesday and then exported to their destination on Thursdays and Fridays each week.
All weanlings are weighed on arrival to the export centre. This is the weight which the purchasers pays on.
Weanlings are collected on farms at the beginning of each week from Monday to Wednesday and then exported to their destination on Thursdays and Fridays each week.
They are fed hay with access to salt licks to encourage water intake. Heifers generally take a little longer to settle and are kept a day longer in the yard before moving to the buyer.
Most purchasers will work closely with a buyer on strict running orders as to what weight and quality to buy. The first time a lot of purchasers will see their cattle will be when they land on their farm.
Weanlings assembled average 350kg to 400kg and are sold by farmers for €3/kg to €3.80/kg depending on weight and quality.
The average price of French weanlings from January to June 2022 was €3.10/kg, up from €2.50/kg, for the same period in 2021. Some Italian customers are paying higher than this for top-quality pedigree weanlings. The co-op deducts 1.8% commission from the sale price to cover their costs.
The average price of French weanlings from January to June 2022 was €3.10/kg, up from €2.50/kg, for the same period in 2021.
U3 young bulls are currently selling for as high as €5.60/kg carcase weight from specialised finishing units.
The French cow price is also very strong with R3 cows currently trading at €5.50/kg.
The co-op deducts 1.8% commission from the sale price to cover their costs.
U3 heifers are currently being sold at €5.60/kg. The company has seen a spike in cow numbers being assembled for direct slaughter this year due to drought conditions and grass shortages during the summer.
France is home to 4.2m suckler cows.Live exports exceed 1.4m head on an annual basis.The majority of cattle are bought and sold through co-ops rather than livestock marts.The current price for U3 young bulls in France is €5.45/kg.The current price for R3 cows in France is €5.50/kg.Weanlings are currently selling for between €3/kg to €3.80/kg depending on weight and quality.
At the beginning of October, I paid a visit to one of the largest livestock shows in Europe, the Sommet de l’Élevage in Clermont-Ferrand in the south of France.
It’s very similar to the Irish Ploughing Championships except it takes place in a purpose-built venue with several stadium-like viewing arenas for the judging to take place.
It’s a popular haunt for Irish breeders every year and this year being the year of the Charolais breed, it attracted a number of pedigree Charolais breeders from Irish shores. The four-day event is almost completely centred around livestock with over 2,000 animals on show (1,300 cattle, 400 sheep and 300 horses).
Twenty-two cattle breeds are involved in the event, along with 26 sheep breeds and 16 horse breeds. The show site itself stretches to almost 50 acres and over 1,500 exhibitors welcomed 105,000 people including 5,000 international visitors through the gates during the week.
The show is located in the heart of the Massif Central, one of the largest beef breeding regions in Europe, so a huge emphasis is placed on the suckler cow.
While visiting the show, I also got the chance to visit a large cattle exporting centre exporting 30,000 weanlings on an annual basis. France is home to 4.2m suckler cows and 3.5m dairy cows and the country exports close to 1.5m cattle on an annual basis. Many of the live exports take place through farmer-owned co-ops.
Covido Bovi Co-op is a co-operative organisation owned by farmers located 40k, to the north of the city of Clermont-Ferrand. This co-op is part of the Sicarev co-op, which has 11 similar groups of farmers throughout France involved in the export and slaughtering of cattle.
There are about 7,500 farmers involved in the 11 co-ops located in the middle of France. The 11 co-ops export 230,000 weanlings on an annual basis to countries such as Spain and Italy and they also own four slaughtering plants slaughtering 150,000 cattle annually.
They are also involved with farm-to-farm sales between French farmers and, in total, procure 384,000 cattle annually from French farms. The co-op also offers technical support and advice to farmers in areas, such as production costs, breeding, nutrition, animal health, farm building design and on the purchase of inputs.
The co-op which I visited deals with 54,000 cattle on an annual basis. This is made up of 30,000 for export, 19,500 cattle for slaughter, 200 breeding animals for export and 5,000 calves for contract rearing for veal/beef.
The co-op has a purpose-built exporting yard that has the capacity to house 1,000 animals at any one time during the week. It employs 25 to 30 people depending on the time of year. This is made up of 10 drivers collecting and delivering stock, five technicians working in the yard and 10 buyers out in the country sourcing cattle.
Weanlings are collected on farms at the beginning of each week from Monday to Wednesday and then exported to their destination on Thursdays and Fridays each week.
All weanlings are weighed on arrival to the export centre. This is the weight which the purchasers pays on.
Weanlings are collected on farms at the beginning of each week from Monday to Wednesday and then exported to their destination on Thursdays and Fridays each week.
They are fed hay with access to salt licks to encourage water intake. Heifers generally take a little longer to settle and are kept a day longer in the yard before moving to the buyer.
Most purchasers will work closely with a buyer on strict running orders as to what weight and quality to buy. The first time a lot of purchasers will see their cattle will be when they land on their farm.
Weanlings assembled average 350kg to 400kg and are sold by farmers for €3/kg to €3.80/kg depending on weight and quality.
The average price of French weanlings from January to June 2022 was €3.10/kg, up from €2.50/kg, for the same period in 2021. Some Italian customers are paying higher than this for top-quality pedigree weanlings. The co-op deducts 1.8% commission from the sale price to cover their costs.
The average price of French weanlings from January to June 2022 was €3.10/kg, up from €2.50/kg, for the same period in 2021.
U3 young bulls are currently selling for as high as €5.60/kg carcase weight from specialised finishing units.
The French cow price is also very strong with R3 cows currently trading at €5.50/kg.
The co-op deducts 1.8% commission from the sale price to cover their costs.
U3 heifers are currently being sold at €5.60/kg. The company has seen a spike in cow numbers being assembled for direct slaughter this year due to drought conditions and grass shortages during the summer.
France is home to 4.2m suckler cows.Live exports exceed 1.4m head on an annual basis.The majority of cattle are bought and sold through co-ops rather than livestock marts.The current price for U3 young bulls in France is €5.45/kg.The current price for R3 cows in France is €5.50/kg.Weanlings are currently selling for between €3/kg to €3.80/kg depending on weight and quality. 
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