Many beef finishers are still recovering from the losses seen in the 2025 winter, where in some cases farmers lost over €500/head on cattle finished last winter. Against this backdrop, David Argue, Teagasc beef specialist took farmers through a various set of budgets Teagasc have compiled with one clear observation - farmers need a price in the region of €8/kg for a margin to be left on cattle purchased in the last couple of weeks and intended for short term finishing.
“One of the budgets discussed with a live display of animals to fit this system was a continental forward store bullock-to-beef system. Taking an average purchase weight of 540kg at €4.50/kg paid it is leaving the bullock costing €2,430.
"Further feeding of this bullock for 120 days and killing into a carcase of 390kg will add €549 of total costs (fixed cost of €63 and variable costs budgeted at €486). This animal will have a total cost of €2,979 and requires a breakeven beef price of €7.64/kg to be paid. If a farmer wanted to have a margin of €100 a beef price of 26c/kg more is required meaning €7.90/kg is needed.
“For these budgets every farm’s cost will be different, we have included a cost of €340/t for meal, in many cases this has raised €20/t in the last week and may rise another €20/t in the coming weeks,” said David.
“These budgets are a guide. We see farmers try to compete with exporters in 2025 for weanlings north of €6/kg liveweight and that requires an exceptional beef price. I would urge farmers do the sums first before buying. The purchase prices used are selected from the Irish Farmers Journal Martbids analysis for the last three weeks in September and will vary whether you’re buying the top versus bottom third or even the average” David added.
Teagasc have crunched the figures on 13 different finishing budgets varying across steer, heifer and bull beef systems which are available online.
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