Factories have moved to take control of the trade, with sellers looking to trade cattle over the weekend met with a base quote of €3.90/kg for steers and €4.00/kg for heifers.

While there were a significant number of cattle moving at this level last week, it is a reduction of 5c/kg for sellers with greater negotiating power.

Reports indicate that plants are firm in their stance, with some refraining from quoting higher, even at the risk of losing out on cattle.

Others have paid a 5c/kg higher base for today, but, as yet, are unwilling to deviate from the lower quote for cattle moving later in the week.

Age limit

The factories' stance is being helped in some areas by higher numbers of cattle starting to approach the 30-month age limit, while there are also higher numbers of traditionally-bred stock reaching slaughter condition.

Numbers remain tight in parts of the east, so it will be interesting to see if factories waver in the coming days from what appears to be a similar stance across most plants.

Cow trade

The cow trade is firm and is helped by a strong appetite and relatively tight supplies, particularly of good well-fleshed heavy-carcase cows.

P+3 grading cows continue to trade from €3.00/kg to €3.10/kg on average, while O grading cows range, in general, from €3.10/kg to €3.20/kg for average-quality Friesian cows.

Better-quality O+ grading and suckler-bred cows capable of delivering a carcase north of 300kg have, in cases, secured a price of €3.25/kg to €3.30/kg.

R grading cows are trading on average from €3.35/kg to €3.45/kg, with the best-quality cows again selling as high as €3.50/kg, with U grades pushing to €3.60/kg in cow-specialist plants.

Bull prices

There is a wide differential in bull prices on offer.

The general run of prices is €3.70/kg for O grading Friesian bulls, €3.85/kg to €3.90/kg for R grading bulls and €4.00/kg for U grading bulls.

Regular sellers commanding greater negotiating power remain capable of securing 5c/kg to 10c/kg higher, while bulls less than 16 months and trading on the grid are moving at a base of €3.90/kg.

Northern trade

Base quotes in the north are steady, with the U-3 base quote listed at a range of £3.48/kg to £3.52/kg.

This puts an equivalent R3 grading steer and heifer at a base of £3.42/kg to £3.48/kg or the equivalent of €3.81/kg to €3.88/kg at 89.7p to the euro and €4.02/kg to €4.09/kg including VAT at 5.4%.

Sellers with the best negotiating power continue to secure 2p/kg to 6p/kg above quoted prices, with the best returns for good-quality heifers.