Anecdotal evidence around the country would suggest that cattle have been thriving tremendously well during the autumn.

My own experience mirrors this, with bullocks that looked like pure stores at the beginning of September transforming themselves into proper beef by the middle of October.

In addition, demand for beef seems to have picked up at a time when finished cattle are at their most plentiful.

In the past, prices used to be high for expensive product coming out of sheds, and during the autumn glut it was acceptable to take less money for a more cheaply produced animal.

I’ve given up trying to understand or predict any market forces. It remains a mystery.

I’m not complaining, since the sharp upturn in beef quotes has resulted in my cattle dying into a bit of money.

Two months ago, it was unthinkable that they might actually leave a positive margin.

Last week, I sold eight more bullocks. Yet again they travelled to Scotland. I have done the maths and I cannot work out any calculation that gets me within £100 of the price I receive in Scotland by selling these types of steers locally.

One of the surprising aspects when discussing this trade with farming acquaintances, is the reluctance (for a number of reasons) of some producers to embark on this journey. I find it fascinating that men and women who dive between meat plants over here if the price differential is more than 2p/kg are suddenly suspicious of a straight quote that could be 20p ahead of what they are getting here.

Harsh grading across the water is another often mentioned excuse, with all sorts of horror stories about great cattle coming back with very ordinary carcase grades – I completely disagree.

Perhaps the last great bastion in the defence argument for not shipping animals is the complete certainty that most of the financial gain will be wiped out by the delay during the vetting and export process.

To listen to one or two of my neighbours, you would think that a fat beast is capable of losing about 50kg of prime carcase. I beg to differ and can only offer what solid facts are staring me in the face.

These last eight cattle were weighed before leaving the yard and a photograph taken of each one.

I accept that pictures can be misleading, but I have tried to do this as fairly as possible, so that anyone can read my figures and make up their own mind.

They have been on good grass and have been fed meal since mid-August. They refused to eat more than 1.5kg/head for the first few weeks and only this past fortnight would they readily eat more than 3kg/head.

They were fed in the morning and then weighed straight out of the field around midday (Tuesday). Next day, they were loaded onto a lorry at 1pm and arrived at the export yard late Wednesday afternoon.

The boat sailed on Thursday evening, and they were killed on Friday in Scotland.