Over the last few weeks, it has been interesting to note the different ways that processors in the various sectors interact with their farmer suppliers.

Unfortunately, all the indications are that current milk prices are not sustainable, and the market is returning little more than the intervention price of around 17p/litre to processors. There seems to be no immediate prospect of a lift to market returns. However, buyers have tried to hold prices – sources suggest that no one wanted to cut ahead of the Balmoral Show.

Similar sentiment doesn’t exist in the beef world with 20p/kg wiped off beef quotes in the last six weeks, including 6p/kg in the last few days.

The beef trade is on a downward spiral and the prospect of a few days listening to complaints at the show is a hardship the factories will have to/are willing to endure.

With factories limiting the number of days they kill, it has been tough for some smaller farmers trying to get cattle away. In fact, by the time the cattle are in the factory lairage, the supplier might feel grateful that the factory has taken the cattle at all. Those who continually tell farmers to shop around for the best deal should perhaps try selling a few cattle this month. It is not as simple to shift between factories as some commentators seem to think.

Given the lack of demand at what is probably the highest cost time of year, it is only natural that many farmers maintain that the sector should produce lower numbers of beef cattle not more. For an industry supposedly trying to encourage growth, the messages being given at present are all wrong. Eventually, access to new and emerging markets will put more competition into the market. That added competition can’t come fast enough.