The mood around beef has been pulled into a much more positive light, despite factories’ best efforts to keep quotes low.

It’s their business and, despite what we might think as farmers, it’s a low-margin business.

My colleague Declan O’Brien looked back at some of the co-operative factories that were put in place in the 1980s or so, which offered farmers just a marginal increase in price per kilo compared with the larger, more established factories, with the net result being all of these factories foreclosing.

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Saying this, there is always wiggle room in quotes, with larger numbers always attractive for a factory agent calling to a yard.

For smaller finishers (and medium-sized ones), the mart remains the most solid option, with many farmers availing of this, which has seen numbers passing through the ring slightly increase over the last few weeks.

Looking at the MartBids table for this week, you would be forgiven for thinking that the tide has changed and that power was back in the factories’ hands with a reduction of price.

Prices for heavy cattle have decreased marginally this week, despite some stronger prices being paid at the factory gate, but this is more a feeling of the price gap between live sales in the marts and factory prices shrinking.

This week last year, we saw bullocks at quoted prices of €7.20/kg to €7.30/kg in the factories, while 600kg-plus lots in marts were averaging €4.12/kg. This week, we are seeing quoted prices of €6.50/kg to €6.60/kg, some 70c/kg of a difference, with mart averages coming in at €3.75/kg, which is circa 37c/kg of a difference; something similar to what we would expect.

Weanlings

Early weanling sales appear to be centred on one thing – exporter demand. Red Limousin bull weanlings seem to be the flavour of the month, with these types consistently being sought after by exporters who are securing large numbers of these at marts to fill orders.

While the top third achieved an average price of €5.53/kg in the 300kg to 400kg weight bracket, north of this is being consistently seen for those meeting exporter demands.

Protocols

Several marts are holding events in association with vaccination protocols for selling weanlings this autumn amid continued demand from exporters for vaccinated weanlings.

The demand for weanlings for the boat that sit below 400kg is also evident when we look at the 28c/kg price difference between average-quality weanlings weighing 300kg to 400kg and those that sit between 400kg and 450kg.

Cull cows

Cows continue to perform strongly, with finished continental types hugely sought after.

The top third of cows achieved an average of €3.72/kg over the last week (up 2c/kg), with several lots seen to hit €4/kg across marts.

Average-quality cows are coming in at €3.11/kg (up 3c/kg, with the bottom third of cows at €2.43/kg (no change).