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The beef trade remains buoyant this week with factory agents very active sourcing stock.
Demand has increased again this week for heifers, with hard sellers able to get €3.80/kg to €3.85/kg this week, up €0.05/kg on last week’s quotes.
With finished cattle numbers continuing to be extremely tight and the kill falling last week again, the ball remains firmly at the foot of the farmer and the advice is to sell hard in the coming weeks.
Factories are trying to play every trick in the book to avoid increasing the price. No weight limits, transport, extra bonus payments and no penalties on the grid have all been thrown in to sway cattle in the last week while standing firm on price.
No weight limits is a particularly enticing sweetener, especially for very heavy cattle and could be the equivalent of a €0.10/kg to €0.20/kg price increase when calculations are done.
Steers are generally trading off a base of €3.75/kg with more on offer to regular sellers and those with higher numbers of stock on offer.
Young bulls
There also seems to be a renewed interest in young bulls with a number of agents making calls about supplies.
The young bull kill has fallen dramatically in 2020 with 49,961 fewer young bulls killed this year as opposed to last year.
Young bulls are generally trading off a base of €3.70-€3.75/kg. Under-24-month bull quotes are also up, with €3.70/kg to €3.80/kg on offer in most plants for U grading bulls, with R grading bulls trading between €3.60/kg and €3.70/kg. It’s clear that there are two tiers in the cow market.
Regular sellers are able to get €0.10/kg to €0.15/kg higher prices out of the market. The general run of quotes are €3.00/kg to €3.10/kg for O grading cows, with €3.20/kg to €3.30/kg being paid for R grading cows.
Agents are very active in marts, with big numbers moving from marts to factories on a weekly basis.
Smaller numbers
Farmers with smaller numbers should take note, in many cases higher returns will be achieved in the mart ring.
Last week’s kill fell a further 459 head to 34,908 head with the majority of this drop coming from reduced numbers of heifers and cows.
Northern customers remain very active, with 606 cattle going north of the border for slaughter last week.
So far in 2020 10,928 cattle have been exported to NI for direct slaughter up from 6436 head for the same period in 2019 or a 70% increase.
IFA national livestock chair Brendan Golden said the cattle trade is continuing to strengthen with finished cattle in the marts making up to 30c/kg above the factory price driven by procurement managers and agents.
Pay more
“This is a clear reflection that factories can afford to pay more.”
The beef trade in Northern Ireland continues to edge upwards with plants lifting quotes to 366p/kg (€4.28/kg inc VAT) for U-3 grading animals.
However, prices on prime cattle are running well ahead of base quotes. Steers are moving at 378p to 380p/kg (€4.47 to €4.45/kg) with heifers securing up to 385p/kg (€4.50/kg) for regular sellers with good number to offer.
Cows remain on 300p to 320p/kg (€3.51 to €3.75/kg) for good quality suckler bred animals.
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