This week’s quotes for beef cattle have caused many farmers to raise an eyebrow, as factories begin to put pressure on beef price.
The mood has changed among beef procurement staff this week, and those who were freely quoting a €4.30/kg base price for heifers last week have this morning cited a quote 10c/kg short of this.
Factories that were citing higher quotes for cattle last week, appear to have taken prices back while those that were behind on price last week, have held their prices this week.
Starting with heifers, €4.25/kg base price appears to be the general run this week while many processors are quoting €4.20/kg on the grid for Quality Assured, in-spec heifers.
Next up is steers and €4.20/kg base price for Quality-Assured, in-spec bullocks would seem to be the general run of quotes here.
Breed bonuses are available for in-spec Angus and Hereford heifers and steers and vary in amount from factory to factory.
Some factories may also offer farmers an additional 10c/kg bonus for cattle killing out with a specified carcass weight.
Cows, on the other hand, seem to have held well for this week with €3.50, €3.60 and €3.80/kg on offer to farmers for P-grade, O-grade and R-grading cows respectively – with some processors citing quotes 5c/kg short of this.
More money for cows is likely available to larger suppliers of cows and farmers with numbers of heavy, well-fleshed cows should bargain hard on price before selling.
For under-16 month bulls, €4.20 /kg on the grid is the general run this week and under-24 month bulls €4.00 and €4.10/kg for R and U-grading bulls respectively.
Beef price analysis
An analysis of this week’s factory quotes would indicate that the drop in prices in the heifer and steer category is a ‘muscle flexing’ manoeuvre by the factories and may not be directly linked to any corresponding drop in demand.
The turn in weather conditions where significant rainfall has occurred in many parts of the country over the weekend may have been seen by the factories as an opportunity to apply pressure to this week’s cattle price as after the weekend’s weather, some farmers will be lifting the phone to their procurement officer to book in a load of stock to the factory this week.
Indications early last week showed that a tightener was coming on beef price as Agriland reported that at least two of the country’s major feedlot operations had pulled back from the mart trade.
It remains to be seen what will happen beef price in the coming weeks however, demand is strong and factories are no doubt keen to catch up on last year’s throughput figures.
IFA response
Commenting on this morning’s factory quotes, the Irish Farmers’ Association’s (IFA’s) Livestock Committee chairperson Brendan Golden has urged farmers to continue to bargain hard and price around before selling cattle.
He also suggested that farmers move out cattle as they come fit to avoid running the risk of cattle becoming over-fat and then facing incurring penalties.
Golden noted that all reports indicate markets remain strong for Irish beef and urges farmers to keep this in mind when selling cattle.