Weather issues in the north and west has seen some bigger numbers of cattle, especially heavier cattle, move out to marts this week, with some very big sales reported.

Trade has remained firm for the top-quality store cattle, with feeders again demonstrating big confidence in the beef market this week, paying close to €1,500 for 500kg store cattle.

The store trade has left many smaller winter finishers scratching their heads as to how the figures add up.

Winter finishing has become a very specialised game, with factories filling their own feedlots and issuing contracts to a select few to allow them go out and pay big money for big stores.

On page 35 of this week’s beef pages, we take a look at the figures involved in winter finishing and it isn’t pretty.

Bullocks

The top third of bullocks this week in the 500kg to 600kg weight bracket were coming in at €2.85/kg or €1,567/head for a 550kg bullock.

The bullock trade saw very little movement this week across all weight categories.

Average-quality bullocks in the 400kg to 500kg bracket are coming in at €2.28/kg – a similar price to last week.

The poorer-quality lighter stores continue to be under pressure, with fewer customers for these longer-keep cattle.

Speaking to some buyers this week, they say that’s where the only value is at the moment and some of their traditional winter finishing customers are going down a grade and purchasing some of these lighter cattle.

They will store them on a silage-only diet over the winter months, reducing costs, and get them back out to grass early next spring for a mid-summer finish.

Some of these poorer-quality dairy-crosses and Friesian bullocks are being bought as low as €1.50/kg to €1.80/kg this week. The average price of the bottom third of bullocks in the 400kg to 500kg weight bracket was €1.83/kg this week.

In the heifer rings, the trade saw a lift this week, with good demand for both heavy heifers and heifers requiring further feeding.

Quality

Again, the better-quality heifers saw some of the largest increases, with 600kg-plus heifers up 18c/kg on last week to average at €2.96/kg or €1,776/head for 600kg heifers.

Average-quality heifers in the 500kg to 600kg weight bracket came in at €2.60/kg this week, while the bottom third of heifers in the 400kg to 500kg weight bracket came in at €2.04/kg this week, a similar trade to last week.

The weanling trade took a bit of a dip this week, especially in the bull rings, with some of the better-quality weanlings back by 20c/kg on the previous week’s trading. The top end of the bull weanlings are still all trading at €3/kg and higher.

Some of the plainer-type weanlings saw the lowest drop this week, with the bottom third of weanlings in the 300kg to 400kg bracket back by just 10c/kg this week.

This would be the area where exporters are working in and should see a lift in the coming weeks as a number of exporters gear up for the Turkish contracts.