While there isn’t much excitement in the beef trade after a wet and windy weekend, at least there doesn’t seem to be any more bad news for farmers with cattle to sell.

Factory trade for steers is fairly consistent at €4.60/kg, with €4.65/kg the going rate for heifers.

In places, a further 5c/kg is being squeezed out of buyers for heifers, but €4.70/kg is very much the exception rather than the rule. There are very few exceptions, if any, for steers.

ADVERTISEMENT

However, there is good interest in heavy cattle around the rings, particularly where northern buyers are in attendance or indeed logged on to sales.

This has given the trade for really good R grading suckler cows a push and factories are having to pay up to €4.40/kg to compete for the top-quality heavy cows.

Cow trade

Good Friesian cows are also in demand, with these O grading type cows moving between €3.90/kg and 4.00/kg - perhaps a shade more where there is a batch together and farmer sellers negotiate hard.

Factories are well supplied with plainer cows, which are being culled off as soon as they are finished milking.

No passengers are being carried and with uncertainty around the cost of feed, farmers are less inclined to feed these on for a few weeks than they may have been in other years.

P+3+ grading cows are selling at €3.70/kg to €3.80/kg, but where random plainer cows are being dropped off at the factory straight from the parlour, they will be paid at less.

Young bulls are also holding steady, with good U and R grading bulls selling between €4.70/kg and €4.80/kg.

Prospects

While it is relatively positive that prices have stopped falling, there is no immediate sign of a meaningful lift in factory prices.

A strong presence of buyers from Northern Ireland is pushing demand in marts in the northern half of the country for heavy stock, especially good cows.

There are also some signs that the market in Germany has improved slightly - it is an important buyer of Irish steak meat and top bits, used in roast beef.

In Britain, despite a 2.7p/kg (3c/kg) drop in the average R4L steer price, the average price paid of £4.55/kg - which converts to €5.64/kg when VAT is added - is still well ahead of the Irish price.

The next move on Irish price will depend on the number of cattle coming forward at the current price.

If there is a big move by farmers to get heavy cattle off the fields, factories will have the advantage, while the best chance for any move upwards depends on a tightness of cattle supply for factories.