Beef quotes have seen another steady week, with no big changes in quotes and if anything, a little more demand being seen in some quarters for finished cattle.

Wet weather over the last two weeks has meant farmers have been more anxious about moving cattle, but with the vast majority of finishing cattle housed, this pressure to move stock has subsided over the last few days.

Foyle Meats, Donegal have reduced their quotes by 5 cent/kg back to €4.60kg for bullocks killing out between 300-400kg, and €4.65/kg for heifers killing out between 300-400kg.

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General quotes for bullocks continue to run from €4.55-€4.60/kg, while heifers are working off €4.60-€4.65/kg.

The bull trade remains pretty stable, with €4.80/kg being paid for U grading under-24-month bulls this week.

R grading bulls are being quoted at €4.70/kg to €4.80/kg, with a little more going to regular suppliers and those with numbers.

O and P grading bulls are trading at 5c to 10c/kg less than this. Under-16-month bulls are in short supply and are generally working off a base price of €4.60/kg to €4.65/kg.

Cow prices

Good, well fleshed cows remain a solid trade. Light P1 parlour cows are a different story, with very few factories having any appetite for these.

Some factories are quoting as low as €2.00/kg and under for these dairy cows this week, with others refusing to take the cows that have been bought in a mart.

These factories are implementing a minimum residency period of over 21 days before the cows can be killed.

Well-fleshed P+3 cows continue to trade at €3.60/kg to €3.80/kg, depending on weight and quality.

O grading cows are working off €3.80/kg to €4.00/kg, while good R grading cows are coming in at €4.10/kg to €4.30/kg.

U grading cows are being quoted at €4.30-€4.40/kg. The live trade for cull cows has waned a little this week on the back of poorer demand from Northern Ireland customers.

Last week’s kill came in at just over 40,000 head – the biggest kill so far in 2023, but still behind the same week in 2022. The 2023 kill is back just under 55,000 head on the same period in 2022. The cow kill saw the biggest increase last week, up 400 head on the previous week to 9,356 head.

The NI based Livestock and Meat Commission reported prices for the week ending 14 October 2023 puts ROI R4 bullocks at €4.79/kg, while the equivalent R4 bullock in Northern England comes in at €5.93, a difference of €1.14/kg or €433 on a 380kg carcase.

ICSA beef chair Edmund Graham has called on the meat factories and Bord Bia to explain how a €1/kg differential between British and Irish prime cattle can be justified.

“This shows that factories are fleecing farmers.

This differential is the highest in living memory and comes at a time when prices on the continent are moving upwards. In fact, our price for prime beef (heifers, steers, young bulls) is now a good 30c/kg behind the EU average,” he said.

NI Comment

There is some concern around what effect next week’s Department of Agriculture vet strike could have on the beef trade in NI. The strike will mean no cattle will be slaughtered by NI factories next week, and this could mean a backlog of cattle could be created for the weeks after.

Cattle quotes are relatively steady in Northern Ireland with a top of 450p/kg (€5.51/kg inc VAT) for U-3 grading animals.

With plants set to close for five days next week as vets and meat inspectors take industrial action, plants were keen to source cattle this week and continued offering deals from 466p to 470p/kg (€5.71/kg to €5.76/kg) for in-spec steers and heifers.

Cut cows continue to face growing price pressure with quotes on 330p/kg (€4.04/kg) for R3 animals and deals limited to 340p/kg (€4.17/kg).