Factory agents are showing more interest in finished cattle this week, as demand moves above supply.

Supplies of finished cattle remain tight, with a notable decrease in the numbers of heavy cattle coming out to marts in the last seven to 10 days.

This had been a rich hunting ground for agents in the last month.

Factory agents are still very active buying cattle for short-term feeding, pointing to a further tightening of supplies in the coming weeks.

Quotes for bullocks have kicked on to a base price of €6.40/kg, with very few bullocks now being purchased at last week’s base of €6.30/kg.

Heifers have also move on, with as high as €6.60/kg being paid for heifers this week.

In the main, heifers are being bought at €6.50/kg base price, with a few factories still trying to buy heifers at €6.40/kg, but getting very little traction with the lower quote.

There’s a lot more leeway for negotiation this week, with factories willing to weld on an extra 5c to 10c/kg to secure supplies, especially where numbers are involved.

Farmers are being advised to bargain hard when obtaining quotes, price around and don’t accept the starting quote.

Bulls

Bulls are also a better trade this week, with under-24-month U grading bulls coming in at €6.50/kg to €6.60/kg this week, with R grading bulls being bought at €6.40/kg to €6.50/kg.

Under-16-month bulls are working off a base price of €6.30/kg to €6.40/kg, but numbers are very small.

The cow trade has also firmed up, with €6.40/kg now available for well-fleshed R grading cows.

Up to €6.50/kg was paid for U grading cows this week, with specialist cow finishers on higher quotes.

The mart continues to be the place of choice for many smaller suckler farmers to offload cows, with factory agents going above what is available in factories when buying cows in marts.

O grading cows are working off a quote of €6.20/kg this week, with P+3 cows coming in at €5.90/kg to €6/kg, depending on weight and flesh cover.

Kill numbers

Last week’s kill came in at 32,251, a drop of over 600 head on the previous week.

The biggest fall came in the bullock category, which fell by over 800 head in the last seven days. The bull kill and cow kill also saw reductions in the week.

The 2026 kill is currently running just over 46,000 head behind the 2025 kill, with last week’s kill running just under 6,000 ahead of the same week in 2025.

Numbers had been expected to improve more, but this is expected to take place on a more gradual basis towards the end of 2026.

Breed bonus changes

Changes to the bonus for Aberdeen Angus cattle in the Certified Irish Angus Producer Group scheme come into effect from 7 September.

British prices

Prices across the water in the British market remain steady, with some gains seen in the last two weeks. R4L bullocks are coming in at 610p/kg (€7.43/kg incl VAT).

The latest red meat retail performance figures from Worldpanel by Numerator UK shows volumes of beef sales reduce by 2% in the 12 week period up to 9 August 2026.

Beef mince saw the biggest decline, with a reduction in sales of 7.8% being recorded year on year, driven by higher prices.

Interestingly, steak cuts saw a 13.4% rise in that period, with the increase in volume being put down to more people choosing to eat in as opposed to going out to restaurants.

UK supermarkets have been promoting steak packages in stores and this has helped increase demand.