Farmers finishing young bulls need a minimum of €8.22/kg in order to break even at current prices, beef specialist with Teagasc David Argue told the Irish Farmers Journal’s beef markets information meeting on Monday night.

He outlined a budget for an under-16-month winter finishing bull system.

A selling price of €8.22/kg or €3,535/head is needed to break even at the moment based on a bull born in spring 2025, he said.

ADVERTISEMENT

This is based on a bull purchased on 15 October 2025 weighing 400kg with an assumed purchase price of €6.34/kg liveweight or €2,536/head.

This estimation also takes into consideration average total costs of €999.

Margin

However, at the current beef price of €6.70/kg with a 12c/kg quality assurance bonus and 21c/kg QPS, this animal would receive just €3,023 with a margin of -€512, according to Argue.

This budget assumed high average daily gains, high-quality silage, good animal health, meal costs of €340/t and transport and levies at €45/head, with half of the interest cost on feed and animals borrowed at 7%.

He caveated that the budget was completed when fertiliser was priced at €500/t and prior to increases in diesel and feed costs.

Argue advised farmers to talk to their accountant if they are making any changes to their system this year.

“Ask yourself the question, should we buy or not in the current market,” he said.

He also emphasised that it is important to run your own budget before deciding whether to buy cattle and to be aware of your approximate cost of production.

For more from the meeting, see www.farmersjournal.ie and this week’s paper.