The Scottish beef price made a slight recovery, as prices reported for a 4L steer are quoted as £3.68/kg by the AHDB.

Some in the industry feel that prices may start to dip again, which has led to some farmer meetings round the country calling for a beef summit to discuss how to arrest the decline.

Kill numbers are back to normal after the Christmas break, with 3,713 steers slaughtered and 2,788 heifers – up around 50% on the previous week.

Steer prices in northern England are reported 1p/kg more across the better grades.

However, in central and southern areas, they are 10p/kg less.

The cows are reported as making £2.41/kg for O+4L grades in abattoirs, which is 5p less than northern and central areas of England.

The live ring is paying £1.06/kg liveweight for beef-bred cows and 81p/kg for dairy breeds.

Good continental steers and heifers 10 to 14 months old are making between £900 to £1,000/head in the store ring.

There were 2,949 store cattle sold in Scotland in the last week.

There were 6,759 store sheep sold through the ring last week, with big sales at Thainstone, Dumfries and Castle Douglas.

Continental and Suffolks are averaging between £65 and £75/head, with Cheviots averaging £55/head and Blackfaces £52/head.

Medium-weight finished lambs were getting an average of £1.93/head through the marts.

Abattoirs were reported as paying a UK average of £4.36/kg for an R3L.

Numbers through marts were up over 300 head, with over 17,000 traded through the ring.

Cast ewes average £56.5/head in the live ring.