It’s been another week of price cuts across the board for cattle, with weanling bulls being hit hardest.

After a fall in price of 24c/kg last week, this week we see weanling bulls weighing 300kg to 400kg drop another 28c/kg.

Two weeks ago, the same category of bull weanling dropped by 21c/kg. That’s a massive 73c/kg in three weeks, which comes in at €255.50/head of a fall.

The disparity is even greater when we look at the top-end bulls of this weight. Two weeks ago, these types fell by 29c/kg, fell another 27c/kg last week and a further cut of 46c/kg this week, slashing €1.02/kg off these cattle in three weeks. The sums are easily done on that figure.

Numbers of weanlings are very small, with fewer than 800 recorded across the MartBids system this last week.

It is arguable that weanling prices were too high in respect of beef prices, while exporter activity was shoring up things price-wise, with several exporters vying for cattle.

Quality-wise, we are probably seeing only select special sales draw out top-end weanlings, with a lot of plainer stock hitting mart rings the last few weeks.

Regardless, the same weanling this week is worth considerably less than a month ago.

Bull weanlings have been hardest hit, but a plethora of red arrows still hang over other stock types. While in recent weeks we saw lighter heifers and bullocks somewhat shielded from the heaviest price cuts, it’s all fair in love and beef this week, with lighter cattle being hit as hard as heavy cattle.

The only stock type out of both the bullocks and heifer to see a price increase this week were the top third of heifers weighing 400kg to 500kg, which increased by 10c/kg. All other types of heifers fell by 2c to 15c/kg on average.

Bullocks and heifers

In the bullock ring, top-end stock appears the hardest hit, with cuts of between 9c and 28c/kg being applied, with the heavy cuts being seen in lighter stock as finishers still lick their wounds from high store prices last back end.

The bottom third of bullocks quality-wise have seen price cuts of 2c to 14c/kg, with the majority of these being dairy-beef stock.

Numbers of stock have contracted considerably in recent weeks, as can be expected, but it has done little to shore up the live sale trade, with factories apparently still content with the stock numbers they are able to lay their hands on.

In many areas, calf sales are still dominating in numbers, while the recent uplift in weather across Ireland has also pushed on grass growth and has some farmers banking on cheap weight gain to be gained from grazing on for another number of weeks with the hope that the tide will turn price-wise.

In a surprising twist of fate, cull cow prices actually recorded a solid bounce in price this week, with average-quality cows achieving a price of €3.03/kg, up 19c/kg in the week.

The top and bottom third of cows are trading at €3.60/kg and €2.15/kg respectively.

It’s an unusual tale based on the stories that farmers are waiting to get cattle killed with full kill sheets in factories, yet cows rise in price.