Factory agents are back battling it out for heavy beef cattle in marts over the last two weeks, a sign that beef cattle are getting a little tighter.

It’s always the first port of call when supplies start to get tight, as it makes more sense for factories to pay over the odds for numbers in marts and remain under the radar.

This means they can keep their foot on the dead trade and not allow it creep up.

Heavy bullocks have been making €3/kg and over it this week in marts.

If we take an 800kg bullock killing out at 56%, that’s a 448kg carcase. At €3/kg, the bullock came into €2,400 before commission of €15 and haulage of €20.

Extra costs

Add in another €20/head killing costs. That’s €55 in total extra costs, so the bullock has to clear €2,455 or the person buying him is in trouble.

That means the bullock has to be getting a beef price of €5.48/kg to break even. To make €20 on him, the price needs to ne €5.60/kg.

Most bullocks are being bought at €4.80/kg base price this week. If we add an in-spec bonus of 20c/kg and 18c/kg for a U= grade, that’s €5.18/kg, a full 30c/kg or €134/head behind the mart price.

The mart is once again becoming the place to sell your beef cattle.

Analysis

This week’s MartBids analysis shows little change in the cattle trade over the last seven days.

Top-end heavy heifers over 600kg came in at €2.85/kg this week, while top-quality 600kg-plus bullocks came in at €2.82/kg.

Average-quality bullocks and heifers in the 400kg to 500kg category are around the €2.50/kg to €2.60/kg mark.

Weanling bulls and heifers continue to be a solid trade, with top-quality bull weanlings in the 300kg to 400kg category averaging €3.64/kg. Heifers came in at €3.37/kg, a similar trade to last week.