Another difficult week for beef producers, as the reported steer price dipped to £3.78/kg for an R4L, down 2p. Cows were back 4p/kg to £2.43/kg for an O+4L.

Historically, cow prices should have stopped any seasonal decline by now, but prices continue to dip. Only 2015 is similar, when price slipped until mid-December for cow and clean beef. A strong supply of manufacturing beef will help prevent the cow price from rising quickly.

Many farmers feel cow numbers are dropping as herds look to remove all passengers this winter and avoid expensive feed bills.

However, the cows are not being killed in Scotland. There has been a sharp decline in cows processed north of the border, with numbers down on the year in 15 out of the last 16 weeks.

Total volumes of cows processed between August and October were back 16% on the year.

Numbers of cows processed continue to decline through November, with 14.9% less cattle.

However, the cow kill in England has risen 11 consecutive months to October 2018.

So it could be a case that the lack of a cow premium in Scotland is pushing them south and sucking clean beef up.

Positive lamb trade

Lamb prices jumped at the marts this week by an average of 8p/kg to £1.81/kg for medium weight lambs, as over 16,000 were sold.

Continental store lambs were making on average between £50 and £65/head, cheviots averaged £50/head and Blackfaces sold for between £40 and £60/head.