The average gross margin on beef finishing farms in 2025 was just under €1,000/ha, according to newly-published data from Teagasc.

The National Farm Survey (NFS) Cattle Finishing Enterprise Factsheet for 2025 shows that the average gross margin for last year was €995/ha, an increase of 27% on 2024.

The share of farms with gross margins over €500/ha increased from 62% in 2024 to 74% in 2025.

The net margin (which accounts for energy, fuel and other fixed costs) on these farms stood at €374/ha, an increase of 36% on 2024.

Output on these farms increased from €1,609/ha to 1,852/ha between 2024 and 2025, an increase of 15%.

Meanwhile, total production costs stood at €1,478/ha, an increase of 11%.

Among those costs, the cost of concentrate feed decreased by 6% to €368/ha; pasture and forage costs increased by 15% to €354/ha; and other direct costs increased by 8% to €135/ha.

These figures, subtracted from the output, give the net margin.

The net margin is determined by then subtracting energy and fuel costs, which together increased by 17% to €146/ha compared to 2024: and other fixed costs, which increased by 24% to €475/ha.

If the output and costs are looked at on the basis of livestock units (LUs), average gross output increased by 22% to €1,302/LU. Average gross margin increased by 35% to €708/LU.

A 24% increase in total fixed costs per LU meant that the average net margin on a per LU basis increased to €278/LU (up 57%) in 2025.

The average stocking rate on finishing farms in 2025 was 1.43LUs/ha, an increase of around 1%, while the amount of concentrate feed fed per LU was 726kg, an increase of 2.8% on 2024.

Average slaughter weight per head was 324.7kg, an increase of 2.7%.

The price of male finished animals last year was €2,591 per head, an increase over 2024 of 43%, while the price of female finished animals increased by the same percentage, to €2,432 per head.

For farmers purchasing animals, the price of weanlings increased by 30% in 2025 to €1,193 per head.

Prices for male and female store cattle increased by 53% and 51% respectively in 2025 compared to 2024 (to €1,783 and €1,532 per head respectively).

This data is based on the 76 farms classed as cattle finishing farms that took part in the Teagasc National Farm Survey.

A farm is defined as a cattle finishing enterprise if over 70% of the cattle are sold for slaughter. There are some 10,000 such farms in the state.

The data in the cattle finishing factsheet are for farms with over 10 LUs.

All of these financial figures exclude support payments and any costs relating to family labour.

There was some variation in financial performance, with the gross margin for the top third of cattle finishing farms standing at €1,899/ha versus only €266/ha for the bottom third.

The top third of farms were stocked at 1.72LUs/ha versus 1.29LUs/ha for the bottom third.

The bottom performing third of cattle finishing farms paid the most for purchased cattle but did not achieve the highest finished cattle prices.