Heifers remain at the top of the quotes on Tuesday, with €3.80/kg still on offer at some factories around the country, while €3.85/kg base price has been paid in the south to farmers with good numbers to kill.

Bullocks are generally moving off €3.75/kg base, with some factories still managing to purchase bullocks at €3.70/kg and heifers at €3.75/kg.

Deals are being completed by factories on haulage and weights to secure cattle. Getting free haulage on animals could be worth as much as 5c/kg to 7c/kg, depending on the charge and carcase weight.

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Young bulls

The young bull trade is a similar trade to last week, with €3.70/kg on offer for R grading bulls and €3.80/kg for U grading bulls.

O grading dairy-cross bulls are back at €3.60/kg, while under-16-month bulls are generally moving off a base of €3.65/kg to €3.70/kg.

Cows are also still in demand, with R grading cows now trading at €3.30/kg to €3.40/kg.

Some factories that specialise in the cow trade have paid €3.50/kg this week for top-quality U grading cows.

O grading cows are trading off €3.10/kg, with P grading cows back at €3.00/kg.

Strong northern demand

With northern demand still strong for good-quality cows, those with cows to sell should weigh up the options of slaughter versus a live sale.

In Elphin Mart on Monday night, good-quality heavy cows between 700kg and 800kg were hitting €2/kg, meaning these cows would have to be hitting close to €3.80/kg to make the same money in the factory.

Last week’s kill recovered to 35,758 head after dropping 2,015 head the previous week to 34,449. Last week’s kill saw numbers up by 1,309 head.

As factories ramp up activity this week with a six-day killed planned in many of the main processing plants, it’s likely that this week’s kill will increase further.

However, factory agents are reporting finished cattle supplies to be very tight on the ground, with many looking to the bigger feeders to get numbers for the final two weeks of the year.