Procurement managers slept easy on Sunday night knowing that the pitter patter of an inch of rain falling On the roof would leave things a little easier this week in terms of sourcing cattle.

Sure enough, they have started off this week with another cut to quotes, with most factories now working off 5c to 10c less than last week.

Bullocks are working off €4.55/kg, with €4.60/kg being paid in a few cases where deals were already done last week.

Heifer quotes have also received a cut, with €4.60/kg being the maximum that a lot of beef factories are quoting on Monday.

Cows have also taken a knock, with reduced factory quotes also hitting the mart trade over the weekend.

P grading cows have dropped to €4/kg to €4.10/kg in the last few days.

O grading cows are working off €4.20/kg to €4.25/kg, while R grading cows are generally being bought at €4.40/kg.

Factories are concentrating on looking after the bigger players this week, with some farmers with smaller numbers of cows.

Bull prices

Bulls are working off €4.55/kg for R grading bulls and €4.60/kg for U grading bulls. A couple of bigger players have been able to get 5c to 10c/kg more, but this has been confined to those dealing in big numbers.

While there are reports of cattle supplies getting tighter as we move into the winter months, this appears to be having little effect on the factories' ability to continue to chip away at beef quotes.

The current move flies in the face of the current increases farmers are seeing on their input costs.

'Unjustified'

Irish Farmers' Association livestock chair Brendan Golden said: “Attempts by some factories to talk down the trade is unjustified and there is up to 10c/kg of a difference between quoted and paid prices this week.

"The latest prime export benchmark price is 27c/kg ahead of the prime Irish composite price, reflecting the strength of the market.

"Prices in the UK and EU have strengthened over the past week and factories must come forward with higher prices that return the full value of the current market.”