Factory appetite for cattle stepped up a notch over the weekend, with agents extremely eager to secure supplies. There are numerous reports of more than one factory entering the frame for deals involving large numbers, which is helping to push prices upwards.

Heifers trading at the top of the market are on a base of €3.92/kg to €3.95/kg. Heifers that were trading at a base of €3.85/kg are in many cases now selling at a 3c/kg to 5c/kg higher price.

A similar situation is evident with steers, with top prices rising to €3.82/kg to €3.85/kg with very few cattle now moving on last week’s base of €3.75/kg.

Bulls and cows

There is also more life in the bull trade. The general run of prices for R and U grading bulls is €3.85/kg and €3.95/kg, with regular sellers commanding 5c/kg more. Bulls under 16 months and trading on the grid are selling mainly at a base of €3.80/kg. This excludes the 12c/kg quality payment scheme bonus for in-spec stock.

The cow trade is holding firm with P+3 grading cows trading on average from €3.05/kg to €3.15/kg, with reports of €3.20/kg for cows traded in high numbers in cow specialist plants. A high percentage of O grading cows are selling from €3.30/kg to €3.35/kg, with top prices rising to €3.40/kg. R grades are selling from €3.45/kg to €3.55/kg, with U grades rising at the top of the market to €3.60/kg to €3.70/kg.

Northern trade

There is also more life entering the trade in Northern Ireland. Base quotes for U-3 steers and heifers remain at £3.52/kg to £3.54, which at 88.9p to the euro equates to €3.96/kg to €3.98/kg, or €4.17/kg to €4.20/kg including VAT at 5.4%.

Regular sellers handling large numbers are securing 4p/kg to 8p/kg higher, which is reflected in last week’s average U-3 price recorded at £3.58/kg and £3.60/kg.

AHDB reports continued recovery in British prices driven by demand for in-spec stock for the Christmas market. R4L steers increased by an average of 1.3p/kg to £3.77/kg (€4.47/kg incl VAT) with R4L heifers increasing by 0.7p/kg to £3.73 (€4.42/kg incl VAT).

O4L cows reduced in price by 0.5p/kg on average to £2.60/kg (€3.08/kg) with the latest cow throughput increasing from 11,586 to 12,536 head.

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