The 2021 beef factory leagues show once again that farmers need to make sure they are selling their cattle to the factory that really wants to buy their type of stock.

In the most extreme cases, there is a €234/head price difference between the top- and bottom-paying factory in a single grade.

The leagues identify what factories are strong for what type of stock.

Within the groups, it is clear that they aim to concentrate different types of cattle in different factories, which is why some factories in a group are at the top and others towards the bottom of any particular table.

It is also interesting to note that when the prices paid across all ABP, Dawn and Kepak factories are combined to calculate an average, there is a range of just a few cent per kilo, less than €10/head between them in some categories.

Factories outside the main groups have dominated top positions, reflecting the fact that they want to buy specific types of cattle.

For example, Jennings has a large Aberdeen Angus element and buys only steers and heifers, while Foyle pays a premium price to get cattle with a narrow weight range.

How the leagues work

The factory leagues are compiled by the Irish Farmers Journal from the prices reported on cattle killed in Irish factories that slaughter over 20,000 cattle per year.

Prices are reported for every individual grade on the E, U, R, O and P scale for the shape of the animal and the fat score between one and five. Both the conformation and shape grade and the fat score are sub-divided into three categories: -, = and +, making it a total of 225 possible grades for cattle in abattoirs.

For the purpose of this exercise, the Irish Farmers Journal has selected 16 grades that are broadly representative of cattle that pass through the plants.

Four are taken from each type of animal – steers, heifers, young bulls and cows and the mid point U=, R=, O= and P+ grades are used with the mid point of the fat score, 3= taken.

Factories are ranked from top to bottom and the overall performance of the groups with multiple locations (ABP, Kepak and Dawn) is also assessed, with the remaining factories grouped together as independents for the purpose of this exercise. The national average is included for each grade assessed.

As with all data, context is important when considering the performance of different factories in the leagues. Some factories, especially in the larger groups, specialise in processing particular types of cattle.

Therefore, if a farmer dropped a few cull cows off at a factory without checking how their prices compared with others, they could be very disappointed.

Similarly, as every individual animal is price-reported, we can expect that a factory average in some cases may be calculated on just a few cattle.

This is particularly applicable at the extremes of grades. For example, there will be very few cows grading U=3= and, in some cases, factories will have killed no cattle at all in a particular grade. If that happens, they are excluded from that table.

Having been pushed into second place in seven categories in 2020, Foyle Donegal emerges as the clear winner in 2021, topping the table across eight of the possible 16 categories. It was top in three out of the four steer categories, two each in the heifer and young bull categories and one in P+3= cows.

The Traditional Meat Company (TMC) also had a strong performance, coming top for P+3= heifers and R3 cows and had two second-place and two third-place finishes as well. Jennings is only in the steer and heifer market and came in with two top places and two seconds, while Moyvalley was top of the table for U=3=cows and second for P+3= young bulls.

While independents dominated the top positions, ABP Bandon and Rathkeale had a single top position as did Kepak Clonee, which also had a second place and four third places.

ABP Bandon also secured four second-place finishes, while ABP Waterford had two second places and two thirds. Dawn had a single second and third place at its Grannagh factory and a second at Slane, as did Ashbourne Meats.

ABP Cahir picked up three third places, while Dawn Ballyhaunis, Euro Farm and Kepak Watergrasshill all had a single third-place finish.

The main change was that after several years of depressed factory cattle prices, prices started to improve in the second quarter and the trend continued for the remainder of the year.

The national average R=3= steer price was 47c/kg higher in 2021 than in 2020, while R=3= heifers were 47c/kg stronger than the previous year. However, the largest increase was in O=3= cow prices at 53c/kg higher than the previous year.

Irish factories are particularly strong buyers of cows. Unlike steers and heifers where the Irish price was between 50c/kg and 60c/kg lower for R3 steer compared with the UK equivalent in recent months, the Irish O3 cow price has been up to 20c/kg ahead of the UK.

Unlike ABP, Dawn and Kepak have a strong burger business and the factories outside the main groups are also strong cow buyers.

New entrants

Factories that kill over 20,000 cattle per annum are required to report the prices paid to farmers net of VAT.

C&J Meats, based outside Lifford in Co Donegal and Dunleavy Meats in Co Mayo, both started price reporting in 2021 but as they were not included for the entire year, they are left out of this year’s leagues.

Group performance

As well as listing the individual factory results in the tables, the group performance of ABP, Dawn and Kepak is assessed and compared with all the other factories combined and grouped under the heading of independents.

ABP is the top group for two of the steer categories with Kepak and Dawn top in one each. Kepak takes three of the top four positions in both the heifer and young bull category. Dawn is top for the P+3= heifer grade and ABP is top for U=3= young bulls.

The combined independent factories outside the main groups top R=3= and O=3= cows and are pipped by Kepak for the top spot on P+3= cows.

Dawn was top for the small number of U=3= cows with ABP bottom in three categories out of four.

Also, even though there is a large range between individual factories, the gap between the groups is just 1.5c/kg to 4c/kg on steers and heifers.