The weekly cattle kill in NI broke the 10,000 head barrier for the first time in 12 months, as beef processors report a surge in finished cattle coming onto the market this autumn.

For the week ending 3 November, 10,165 cattle were processed at local slaughter plants – making it the highest kill for the year to date and the largest weekly kill since November 2017. It is only the fourth time in the last six years that the weekly cattle kill has passed the 10,000 head mark. Over the last 10 weeks, a total of 92,635 cattle have been slaughtered in NI, which is the highest total for this period since the wet year of 2012. A key factor behind the increased supply of finished cattle numbers has been the rise in dairy-bred beef animals on the back of a record high of 317,100 dairy cows recorded in the June 2016 census. There have also been significantly higher numbers of cull cows coming onto the market, as suckler farmers offload cows that are not in-calf and dairy farmers cull cows that have reached the end of their lactation.

Last week, the cow kill jumped by 130 to 2,508, the highest cow kill for the year to date.

Throughout 2018, 378,478 cattle have been processed, with cow numbers up by 3% and prime animals up 1%.

Mart trade

With the increased availability of cattle, farmers are facing delays of 12 to 14 days in getting animals (particularly steers and young bulls) booked-in for slaughter and process.

As these delays look set to continue for the majority of November, mart managers report an increase in the number of finished cattle being sold through the live trade.

Buying demand from specialist finishers remains strong. Farmers are looking to capitalise on this by offloading finished cattle at marts rather than continuing to feed slaughter-fit animals and run the risk of them falling out of spec on carcase weight and fat class.

Slaughter-fit, U-grading cattle are still making close on 200p/kg in the live trade. This converts to a beef price of 350p/kg and is comparable with factory prices being paid to finishers with smaller numbers and, therefore, limited bargaining power.

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