The sun keeps on shining and beef quotes keep on rising this week, as supply issues continue to bite for factories.

Base prices for bullocks have risen by 20c/kg this week in some locations, with €6.70/kg now on the table for bullocks.

Heifers have also moved on in the last seven days, with base prices of €6.80/kg now being quoted for heifers.

ADVERTISEMENT

There’s a myriad of quotes available, with no one size fitting all this week. In the majority of cases, there is 10c/kg more in the agent from the quoted price to the paid price and farmers should be selling strong this week.

That said, if cattle are coming fit, it’s always better to market them as they come ready and capitalise on the upswing in price over the last few weeks.

There’s a a lot more cattle being bought flat this week, with north of €7.30/kg being paid for in-spec Aberdeen Angus bullocks and heifers.

Continental cattle are also being purchased on a flat-rate basis, with prices of €7.10/kg flat being paid for heavy bulls this week.

Cows

R grading cows are being priced around €6.40/kg to €6.50/kg, with more going to those with numbers.

U grading cows are now being bought at €6.50/kg to €6.70/kg, with higher prices going to regular cow sellers and specialist feeders.

O grading cows are being bought for around €6.20/kg to €6.30/kg. P+3 cows are coming in at €6.10/kg to €6.20/kg.

Some of the specialist cow producers dealing in bigger numbers have been able to squeeze a €6.40/kg flat price for mixes of O and P grading dairy cows this week.

Factory-aligned finishers continue to light up the mart trade, with heavy cull cows seeing strong demand from NI factory agents and feeders.

Well-fleshed heavy dry cows continue to hit €4/kg and over in marts around the country, with big competition for heavy cows around the ring.

Bulls

R grading bulls are coming in at €6.40/kg to €6.50/kg, with U grading bulls being quoted at €6.60/kg to €6.70/kg, depending on numbers and type.

O grading bulls are working off an all-in price of €6.30/kg to €6.40/kg, while P grading bulls are being quoted at €6.20/kg to €6.30/kg, depending on weight and flesh cover.

Over-age bulls are generally working off a price of €6.30/kg to €6.40/kg, depending on grades and flesh cover. Under-16-month bulls are working off a €6.40/kg base price on the grid.

The current rise in prices is hitting winter finishers especially hard. Some of these finishers held out until June hoping for a price rise and, with nothing coming, many of them tried to cut their losses and emptied sheds.

Huge amounts of money were lost on last autumn’s store purchases and there are some that are worried that with an increasing beef price, this could drive on the price of store cattle in the back end again.

Factories lost a lot of favour over the last few months and can’t expect to hit winter finishers another blow in 2027.

Last week’s kill showed a slight improvement in numbers, but nothing that was going to turn the dial for factories.

A lot of factories have reduced the number of days they are killing, with some even resorting to some of the independent smaller factories for supplies in the last few weeks.

The kill came in at 24,667 – a rise of just over 800 head on the week.

The rises came in both the bullock and heifer categories, with cows and bulls at a similar level to where they were last week.

Beef quotes across the water continue to improve, with quotes up another 2p to 3p this week. R4L heifers continue to trade at £6/kg (€7.37/kg incl VAT).