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The outlook for beef is much more positive this week, with prices on an upward curve as processors become hungrier for finished animals.
Driving the rise in processing demand has been a resurgence in sales of Red Tractor beef within the UK retail trade.
Factory agents are much more anxious to secure numbers and farmers selling cattle indicate a range of price deals are on offer, all running well ahead of base quotes.
While factories have left official quotes unchanged on 350p to 358p/kg for U-3 grading animals, they fall well short of what is actually on offer.
A growing number of farmers report that 370p/kg is widely available for in-spec steers and heifers.
More regular finishers offering bigger numbers report price deals of 374p to 376p/kg on offer for in-spec animals.
Wholesalers are also extremely competitive for butcher type heifers, with prices pushing towards 380p/kg at the upper end of the market.
The upward price move is being welcomed by finishers, following the price cuts applied by local plants earlier this month.
While these cuts did have the desired effect of bringing extra cattle onto the market, indications are point to numbers tightening and now running short of processing demand.
Last week, the average price paid on steers and heifers across all grades rose by 1.79p to 357.74p/kg.
The average price paid on U3 steers rose by 1.3p to 367.2p/kg.
There was a significant lift in heifer prices, with U3 animals rising 4.3p/kg to an average 371.7p/kg. Young bulls averaged 357.4p/kg, a marginal rise of 0.3p.
Cows
There is also more bite in the cow trade, particularly in the live ring with finishers becoming more competition for good quality suckler bred animals.
Plants have left base quotes unchanged on 280p/kg for R3 grading animals, but deals are running well ahead of this level with reports of 300p/kg on offer to regular finishers. Quotes on O+3 cows remain on 270p/kg. Last week, prices paid on R3 cows averaged 292.5p/kg.
Lamb trade
The live trade for fat lambs has improved slightly mid-week, with some processors lifting quotes by 5p to a base of 435p/kg. This makes fat lamb worth £91.35 at the 21kg carcase limit.
In Kilrea, 470 lambs sold from 387p to 421p, unchanged on the week. The best pen at 22kg made £92.50 with the main run making £88.50 to £96.50.
Massereene had a show of 1,206 lambs which made 390p to 423p/kg, no change on last week. The best price was for 22kg Texel lambs at £93. Heavy lambs at 25kg made £100 with 26kg making £98. Lambs at 22kg made £86.50.
In Saintfield, a small show of 444 lambs sold from 382p to 500p/kg, unchanged for the main weight range. Very heavy lambs made £96 to £100, with lambs at 22kg making £88 and 19kg at £74.
Trade in Lisahally improved by £1/head with lambs averaging 23.7kg making £91.40.
In Rathfriland, 704 lambs made from 382p to 480p/kg, with the sale average of 425p/kg, up by 3p/kg on the week.
The trade in store lambs is firm. In Ballymena, stores made £87 for crossbreds, £85.50 for Texels and £85 for Suffolks.
Ewes
The trade for fat ewes has also improved. Omagh sold ewes to £107 with Swatragh selling to £120 and Kilrea to £96/head. In both Massereene and Saintfield, the top price was £106 with plenty making from £90 to £100. In Rathfriland, ewes topped £108/head.
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