The deadweight cattle price hasn’t moved this week and still sits at £3.68 to £3.75/kg for R grade cattle. This is up by around £160/head on this time last year.

The official Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) price for R grading steers for the week ending 12 December was £3.80/kg, down 9p/kg on the week. Same-grade heifers fell 7p/kg to £3.82/kg and young bulls were down 8p/kg to £3.63/kg.

Finished cows were reported by the AHDB at £2.41/kg for an 0-4, which is up 4/kg.

Breeding cow numbers

According to AHDB figures up until May of this year, UK cow slaughter had been running below that of 2019. During June, numbers jumped by 17% year on year, bringing the year-to-date total close to the level of slaughter at the same point in 2019.

Monthly cow slaughterings then stayed elevated year on year until October, where it slipped back below last year’s levels. This brought cow slaughterings for the year to date (Jan-Oct) to 551,900 head, 1.5% higher than the same period in 2019.

The historic yearly trend for cull cow slaughter has generally been on the increase. For example, 667,500 cows were slaughtered in the UK in 2019 according to Defra data, up 198,200 head (+42%) from 2009. It should be noted that Defra data refers to any cows that have calved, regardless of age.

As a consequence, the population of breeding cows in the country has been in a state of long-term decline. Figures from the Defra June 2020 survey show that the total UK breeding herd had shrunk by a further 1% from the year before, with both dairy and suckler cow numbers reducing at the same rate.

Strong lamb trade

There appears to be no dampening of the lamb trade, despite serious fears Brexit could crash the market. This week, abattoirs are paying between £4.70/kg and £4.80/kg for R grade lambs up to 21kg. The official AHDB price for R grade lambs was £4.84/kg, which is a rise of 3p/kg. Across GB, over 54,000 lambs were killed, which is a rise of 7,000 on the week.

Looking across the channel, the lamb price in France for heavy weight lambs is an astonishing £6.42/kg, which is up 76p on the year. France exports very little lamb and is the most important market for UK lamb abroad, which is little surprise when prices are over £40 per lamb more than here.

The Scottish live trade in lambs looked to have cooled a bit, with Monday’s sales at Ayr Mart reporting a 10p/kg drop to £2.08/kg, Lanark dipping 2p/kg to £2.15/kg and St Boswells dropping 5p/kg to £2.15/kg. Last week’s prime lamb sale at Thainstone averaged £2.03/kg, down 7p/kg.

United Auctions held a sale of 2,539 store sheep on Islay, which averaged £69.38/head, up £8.31 on the last sale. Thainstone’s store sale of 1,800 averaged £70.13, to a high of £90.