The beef trade has moved up another gear this week, with factories really ramping up activity in the hunt for finished cattle.

On the ground, there is huge divergence in prices with some factories trying to hold quotes at last week’s prices but not getting cattle.

Others have had to increase prices by 10c to 15c/kg to get cattle. Quotes are ranging from €4.15/kg to €4.20/kg for bullocks, with €4.20/kg to €4.25/kg for heifers.

The advice is to bargain hard, with higher prices going to hard sellers.

Factories are scrambling for supplies of Aberdeen Angus (AA) cattle, with as high as €4.75/kg paid by one factory this week for a load of predominantly R grading heifers.

Flat deals of €4.60/kg are freely available for mixes of O and R grading AA cattle.

Flat deals are also being brokered for Friesian cattle, with as high as €4.20/kg being paid for mixes of O and P Friesian bullocks.

The young bull trade remains very steady, with under-16-month bulls now trading off €4.15/kg to €4.25/kg base price. Older under-24-month-old bulls have moved up to €4.30/kg to €4.35/kg, with 5c to 10c/kg more going for U grading bulls.

The cow trade has seen a lift, with P grading cows moving up to €3.45/kg to €3.55/kg.

Better-quality suckler P cows are moving even higher, with €3.60/kg being paid where there are mixes of O and P grading cows.

O grading cows are moving at €3.60/kg to €3.70/kg, while R grading cows are now trading at €3.80/kg to €3.90/kg, with a little more going for U grading animals. The advice is to shop around, with some factories particularly hungry for cows in the last two weeks.

With numbers of finished cattle very tight on farms, this has diverted many agents to marts, with all of the main factories now buying thousands of animals weekly in marts around the country. Many of these cattle are slaughtered the next day after being bought with little concern for residency rules.

Prices being paid in marts are way in excess of what animals are worth to kill, with this being particularly evident in the cow trade. Heavy cows in the 800kg to 900kg category are regularly hitting €2.20/kg to €2.30/kg liveweight in marts, which would transfer into a beef price of up to €4.20/kg.

Last week’s kill came in at 29,403 head of cattle excluding veal slaughterings. This was up 672 head on the previous week, with just marginal increases across all categories except young bulls, which saw a decrease of just over 100 head.

The week before last was a bank holiday, but it didn’t don’t mean a lot to beef kills in the current climate as many factories are working either half days or three- to four-day weeks to manage supplies.

Numbers exported for direct slaughter to Northern Ireland (NI) stood at 413 head. Total numbers exported to NI for direct slaughter in 2021 are at 8,074, up 961 head on the 2020 figure of 7,113 for the same period.

NI comment

The beef trade in NI is extremely positive as processors compete for stock.

Base quotes have jumped by 8p/kg and range from 380p to 384p/kg (€4.71 to €4.76/kg inc VAT) for U3 grading animals.

Prime cattle are moving at 396p/kg (€4.91/kg), with regular finishers supplying bigger numbers on 400p/kg (€4.96/kg) at the upper end.

Cows remain on an R3 quote of 290p/kg (€3.60/kg), although prices are more typically 320p/kg (€3.97/kg) and better for quality suckler types.