The beef trade has started off this week in territory where it finished off last week. Heifers are trading off a base of €3.65/kg, while bullocks are finding it hard to move any higher than €3.60/kg.

The cow trade has improved a little, with P+3 cows trading at €3.00/kg to €3.10/kg.

O grading cows are generally moving at €3.10/kg to €3.15/kg, with good R and U grading cows trading for as high as €3.30/kg to €3.40/kg in some plants depending on numbers and quality.

Bull trade

Bulls are a similar trade this week, with under-16-month bulls trading off €3.50/kg to €3.60/kg on the grid.

Older R grading bulls are at €3.50/kg to €3.55/kg, with U grades coming in on average 10c/kg to 15c/kg higher at €3.60/kg to €3.70/kg.

Lesser-grading bulls are generally trading between €3.40/kg and €3.50/kg.

NI exports

Exports to NI for direct slaughter rose again for the week ending 19 September to 593 head, up from 540 the week before.

This was made up of 325 bullocks and bulls and 215 cows and heifers. Northern customers are still active around mart rings purchasing cattle for further feeding.

The kill has dropped and has been in freefall for the last two weeks, dropping by 2,459 cattle, which brings the kill for the week ending 19 September to 33,573 head.

Weather is having an impact, with farmers with finished cattle in no panic to sell, turning instead to field work while the weather lasts.

With another week of good weather last week, it’s expected that numbers will stay steady and possibly drop even further.

The big drop in the kill for the week ending 19 September came from steers and heifers, with 884 less steers killed and 399 less heifer killed compared with the previous week.

Taking a look at the Bord Bia beef market tracking graph for prime animals below, it shows the clear upward direction that our main export markets are going in while the Irish composite price for prime animals is going in the opposite direction.

Questions have to be asked that if our main export markets are moving up, why is the Irish price stagnating?