The beef trade is finally showing signs of turning after a difficult few months for beef finishers.

While official quotes haven’t moved off €6.20/kg base for bullocks and €6.30/kg base for heifers, agents have a lot more scope to pay more this week when pressure is applied.

A number of finishers continue to trade off base prices of €6.40/kg this week, with €6.50/kg base price also paid to get a large number of cattle across the line.

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Good weather this week will likely leave marts small with a lot of smaller finishers concentrating on getting farm work completed as opposed to selling cattle.

Marts have been very small over the past week, with factory agents active both ringside and online for the few cattle that are turning up to marts.

It’s also important to point out that the base price is now only part of the story when selling finished cattle.

A farmer participating in a factory producer programme could be looking at a base price plus 60c/kg when in-spec bonus, breed bonus and factory bonus are all counted in.

A farmer in one of these groups killing an R grading Aberdeen Angus heifer this week is close to €7/kg. This is a better reflection of where the trade is at for any farmer outside of these groups getting quotes to sell cattle this week.

Breed bonuses of between 5c and 20c/kg are available for in-spec Hereford and Aberdeen Angus cattle.

Flat prices are also a little easier to come by, with as high as €6.70/kg continuing to be paid this week for in-spec Aberdeen Angus heifers.

At the moment, it’s a case of pushing hard when it comes to quotes, with certain agents having leeway to up quotes when pressure is applied.

Cows

R grading cows are being priced around €6.00/kg to €6.10/kg, with more going to those with numbers. U grading cows are now being bought at €6.10/kg to €6.20/kg, with higher prices going to regular cow sellers and specialist feeders.

O grading cows are being bought for around €5.90/kg. P+3 cows are coming in at €5.60/kg to €5.80/kg, with some factories continuing to quote lower for very light cows.

Some of the specialist cow producers have been able to squeeze a €6/kg flat price for mixes of O and P grading dairy cows this week.

Cows have seen the biggest lift in demand in the last two weeks, with a boost in manufacturing beef fuelling the increase in demand for cows.

Bulls

R grading bulls are coming in at €6.30/kg to €6.50/kg, with U grading bulls being quoted at €6.40/kg to €6.50/kg, depending on the number and type involved.

O grading bulls are working off an all-in price of €6.10/kg to €6.30/kg, while P grading bulls are being quoted at €6.00/kg to €6.20/kg, depending on weight and flesh cover.

Over-age bulls are generally working off a price of €6.00/kg to €6.20/kg, depending on grades and flesh cover. Under-16-month bulls are working off a €6.20/kg to €6.30/kg base price on the grid.

Some stability has also entered the UK trade in the last week, with R4L bullocks and heifers now coming in around 593p/kg (€7.28/kg), which still places a gap of close to 90c/kg between the two markets.