Selling beef cattle this week has been something of a lottery, as factories push to buy for less, but have been willing to stand on with prices where farmers with good numbers of in-spec cattle have dug in and sold hard.

There have also been several reports to the Irish Farmers Journal of factory agents being active in marts.

So, while factories have been able to buy cattle for less, €6.30/kg should be the minimum target for selling steers, with up to €6.40/kg being paid.

Heifers are readily making €6.40/kg, but, again, a further 10c/kg is in play for the seller with good numbers of the right in-spec stock.

The kill last week increased on the week before, but is still below 33,000. This isn’t big for this time of year, but it does mean that factories are more forceful in insisting on specification being met when paying the higher money – out-of-spec cattle are being paid less.

Despite drought in parts of the country, there has been no panic culling of cows. Prices are ranging between €5.70/kg and €5.90/kg for P and O- grading cows, with R grades at €6.00/kg to €6.20/kg and the few U grades will get up to steer prices.

Mart trade for good cows is also exceptionally strong.

Young bulls are getting up to €6.40/kg for Os, €6.50/kg for Rs and more if there are U grades in the batch.

Numbers increasing

The cattle kill at factories increased again last week, rising to 32,877 head, which is 857 more than the previous week and the fourth week in a row when the kill has been above 30,000.

This isn’t particularly high throughput for this time of year, though it is 6,609 head more than the corresponding week last year.

However, it should be pointed out that the weekly kills this time last year were particularly low and an outlier to the normal pattern.

There has been much debate about drought in parts of the country pushing farmers to cull cows and while this may be happening on a local level, the national statistics show that cow numbers last week increased by 294 head to 6,792, but this is below the numbers going to the factories in July.

Group scheme changes

Changes to the bonus for Angus cattle in the Certified Irish Angus producer group scheme come into effect from 7 September.

From that date, farmers will receive a 10c/kg bonus on Angus cattle that meet the weight, conformation and fat score specification, have a maximum of four farm residencies and been on a quality assured farm for a minimum of 70 days in total, with the final 60 days on the farm presenting them for slaughter.

A further 5c/kg will be paid to members who are participating in the AgNav programme and have undertaken a minimum of three actions. There will also be a further 5c/kg bonus available for animals that have a sire recorded or genotyped.

Britain and NI

In Britain, average steer prices were just over 1p/kg higher, bringing the average price paid up to almost £6.11/kg which works out at €7.51/kg when VAT at 4.5% is added.

Heifer prices were also marginally higher at just over £6.09/kg, which is the equivalent of €7.49/kg plus VAT.

There has been some pressure on prices north of the border and the official reported price paid last week for R3 steers dressed to EU specification was 2.1p/kg (2.5c/kg) lower at £5.96/kg, which is the equivalent of €7.33/kg with vat at 4.5% added.

R3 heifer prices were also down by a similar amount, with the price reported for an R3 heifer at fractionally above £5.96/kg, which converts to just over €7.33/kg with VAT added.