The beef trade is delicately balanced this week, as the factory kill continued its recent upward trend, rising by 1,106 head on the previous week.

Several factories are reported to be increasing their kill next week, which suggests that the numbers are about and that they have markets in which to sell the beef.

There has been plenty of talk about factories saying that cattle should be less, but farmers selling cattle who have spoken to the Irish Farmers Journal say that prices have been holding across all types of cattle.

There are some regional factors to be considered, with drought in the south putting pressure on feed, while the west and north have had a good deal of rain and plenty of grass growth.

Putting it in numbers, the typical quote for steers is still around €6.30/kg to €6.40/kg, with heifer quotes 10c/kg more at between €6.50/kg and €6.60/kg.

We are still hearing that there is plenty of flexibility with out-of-spec cattle, though this varies between factories depending on their appetite for stock.

Breed bonuses are between 10c/kg and 20c/kg for Angus and Hereford steers and heifers and a further reminder of changes that are coming on 7 September when the Certified Irish Angus scheme will be paying 10c/kg on qualifying Angus cattle and an extra 5c/kg will be paid for Angus cattle participating in the AgNav sustainability platform.

The cow trade is also holding firm, but the scarcity of feed in the drought-affected regions is no doubt influencing the cow kill.

While there were 108 fewer cows through factories last week compared with the week before, the weekly kill of 6,498 cows was 1,855 higher than it was in the same week last year.

Good cows are in particular demand and while the general quote for these is in the region of €6.20/kg, factories that specialise in cows are reported to have been paying as high as €6.40/kg for these quality suckler-bred cows.

Plainer P+ grading cows are moving between €5.80/kg and €5.90/kg, with O grading cows getting €5.90/kg to €6.00/kg

Young bulls accounted for 1,766 head of the total kill last week and, as is normally the case this time of year, many of these are being produced to order, with few being on the open market.

The going rate for young bulls is €6.50/kg to €6.60/kg for U grades and between €6.40/kg and €6.50/kg for R grades, with O grades making €6.40/kg and frequently priced at the same as R grades.

Factory throughput

Last week’s overall cattle kill rose to 32,020 head, up from 30,914 the previous week. The factory kill is now running well ahead of this time last year, when just 25,509 cattle went through price reporting Irish factories in the same week.

The overall factory throughput is still running well behind last year with 987,634 cattle processed up to the end of last week compared with 1,046,807 in the same period last year.

However, the gap is closing and if present throughput trends continue, cattle numbers will align with last year, as has been forecast by Bord Bia.

NI and Britain

Northern Ireland trade was slower last week, with price falls for both steers and heifers.

U3 steer prices reported for EU-spec dressing were £6.02/kg, (€7.40/kg when flat-rate vat is added) down from £6.09 (€7.48/kg) the week before.

Heifer prices also fell to £6.01/kg (€7.39/kg) compared with £6.08 (€4.47/kg) reported for the week before.

In Britain, steer prices have levelled off having been on an upward trend since the beginning of June. The average steer price last week was £6.07, which works out at €7.46/kg when flat rate vat is added.

Heifer prices fell by 3p to the equivalent of €7.40/kg.