Thurs 19 June

  • Ulster Grassland Society, summer visit to Jim and Dean Wright, Brackagh Road, Portadown, 10.30am. Book George TN 07920 037910.
  • Sat 21 June

  • Lisburn & Saintfield District Show, Balmoral Park, Maze. Details Liz Graham TN 07821 588 390.
  • Tues 24 June

  • All breeds dairy sale, Kilrea mart, 11.30am.
  • Lely robotic open day at the Lely Centre, 4 Carrowcolman Road, Eglish, from 11am. Details Jim TN 07827 884639.
  • Wed 25 June

  • Woodhill Dairy Consultants & Vetvice Netherlands, Planning for Robots, Glenavon House Hotel, Cookstown, 9.30am. Farm visit to Pat and Sean Fullerton’s farm. To book TN 07971 554154.
  • Grassland-Agri, Agri-King & CAFRE open day at Norman McCollum’s farm, 2 Islandtassserty Road, Coleraine, from 11am. Details Noel TN 07825 908 555.
  • Monamore young stock sale 65 head for Tom Kelly at Philipstown Farm, Drogheda, 12noon.
  • The NI Institute of Agricultural Science (NIIAS) is holding its summer outing to the apple processing facility of P McCann and son, Portadown. The event will start at 3pm. The cost is £10 for members, £15 for non-members. The tour only costs £5. To book your place, contact NIIAS executive secretary Kate Curran at secretary@niias.co.uk; or telephone 028 9268 1078.
  • Sat 28 June

  • Newry show at the Rugby grounds, Telford Park, Hilltown Road.
  • Jalex Fest charity BBQ, live music and dance at Alexanders, Gloverstown Rd, Randalstown, 7pm. Tickets are available from www.jalexfest.com
  • Base quotes for cattle at the factories this week are down as low as 310p/kg, although slightly more is on offer for those in a position to bargain.

    There is some speculation that this could be the bottom of the trade as finished cattle numbers have tightened this month. However, with plenty of beef in store, there is no great pressure on factories to seek out supplies.

    The total prime cattle kill is running 3% behind the same period in 2013, with last week’s total kill of 7,627 nearly 1,000 less than was killed in the same week in 2013 and 600 head below the yearly average to date.

    The option of getting cattle killed in Britain is limited, with only 124 going across last week. For the year to date, exports for slaughter in Britain are down 40%, as processors there have concentrated on home-produced cattle, and as the differential in price has narrowed.

    The difficulties facing the beef industry were discussed again at Stormont this week, with Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill critical of how new penalties were introduced by beef processors earlier this year. “That will not lead to a sustainable industry in the future. Taking decisions without consulting farmers is not a fair way to do business,” she said.

    The Minister also said that she intends meeting representatives from both processors and retailers in the coming weeks and will highlight to them the need for transparency and fairness across the whole supply chain.

    Meanwhile, quotes for spring lamb in the local factories have slipped to 440p/kg as more numbers start to come forward.

    Last week’s NI lamb kill of 10,325 was the biggest weekly kill of lambs seen in the first half of the year since 2008.

    All of the main buyers of milk in NI who had held their prices for April milk supplies have reduced their prices for May milk. Town of Monaghan Co-op has dropped by just 1p/litre to a base of 32p/l, while Aurivo/Donegal has cut by 1.5p/l to a base of 31.5p/l.

    These two are now above other base prices, with Glanbia Milk and Lakeland Dairies having cut by 2p/l for May, while Glanbia Cheese and Fane Valley have added cuts of 2p for May following their 1p/l reductions for April supplies. This leaves the Fane Valley base price below that of May 2013 (by 0.5p/l) and Glanbia Cheese level with last year but others remain above year earlier prices as shown in the table.

    We are advised that the supply to Glanbia Ingredients Ireland, through Fivemiletown Co-op, is being paid at the prices quoted by Glanbia Milk, with the actual payments to producers being set by their co-operative.

    Base prices for May milk supplies to United Dairy Farmers and Ballyrashane Co-op were unavailable as we went to press this week.

  • Full details in next week’s Irish Farmers Journal.