The cattle market looked soft again this week, as abattoirs could be pulling the price down next week to under £3.50/kg. Currently, farmers are getting anything between £3.52/kg and £3.58/kg for R grade 4L steers.

The official AHDB reported price dropped 2p/kg to £3.67/kg for an R4L steer, which includes the Angus premium. This reduced the premium over the northern English price to 9p/kg for the same grade cattle.

Heifers are reported by the AHDB at the same price as steers for an R4L. Deadweight cow prices fell 12p/kg to £2.60/kg for an O-4L carcase, which created a gap of 4p/kg more than northern England.

The bull kill continued to rise, with 50% more killed in Scotland last week. The price of bulls paid by abattoirs ranges from 5p/kg to 10p/kg less than the same-grade steer. The smaller gap between young bulls and steers is being put down to abattoirs chasing the larger amount of bulls available at this time of year to ensure a full killing line.

The lamb trade fell to £4.77/kg for new-season lamb in abattoirs, which is down 3p/kg on the week. Numbers of new-season lambs sold through the live ring doubled to 2,884 head.

St Boswells and UA Stirling marts both sold over 500 new lambs each.

The average price for medium-weight lambs fell 6p/kg to £2.24/kg liveweight. Cast ewes through the ring rose over 1,000 head on the week to 4,413, as the average price fell £3/head to £64/head.

Livemarket for old-season lambs fell again by 13p/kg to £1.63/kg for medium-weight lambs. Numbers of old-season lambs fell to 4,770 head through the live ring.