This week Phelim O’Neill publishes the annual factory league tables. It’s a tough task pulling together the official weekly Department of Agriculture price tables and compiling them into an annual report, but it’s an important piece of analysis for farmers.

We all hear opinions about which is the best factory to sell your cattle in, but this week’s analysis is the definitive guide to which factories are paying the most for cattle.

What can farmers take from it?

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One of the biggest things is that despite what processors say, it still pays to price around when it comes to selling your cattle.

Finishers can pick the type and grade of animal that they are producing and compare what all factories are paying.

Obviously, there are other factors like transport costs and loyalty schemes that could prohibit moving to a far away processor, but having the factory leagues in your back pocket when getting a quote could be a help in getting the best price you can.

A lot of smaller finishers have moved back to marts to sell smaller numbers of cattle and let factory agents fight it out for them.

In general, these farmers with smaller numbers have been faring better in mart rings when they don’t have the power of numbers to hammer out a better deal with agents.