Tighter finished cattle supplies and strong retail demand point to a positive back end for British beef finishers, according to AHDB’s latest price outlook.

A recovering British food service market could also be good news for Irish finishers, as the British food service market generally relies on imported product to meet demand.

Interestingly, they are also forecasting a further reduction in the British suckler herd on the back of reducing financial support payments and rising feed prices.

Some of this decline will be made up of increased use of sexed semen in the dairy herd, making more dairy beef animals available for finishing in the future.

Back home, the Irish bullock price is under a little pressure, with quotes not moving off €4.20/kg to €4.25/kg this week. Last week’s kill was the biggest so far this year, with 34,014 head killed.