This week it was noted that some factory procurement managers were highlighting the impact that the UK lockdown is going to have on their beef retail sales. With comments such as this, a price increase in the coming weeks for both steers and heifers has been cast over with a shadow of doubt.
AgriLand got in touch with Edmond Phelan, president of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA), to get his views on the current beef trade and his advice for farmers that are still in limbo in deciding their next move with their cull cows.
Commenting on the lockdown and retail markets being affected, Edmond explained:
Processors are going to use every excuse to pull back the price; we have seen the same excuses being used back last March [2020].
“Maybe in the short term, last spring with the restaurants closing, steak sales could have been a problem – but then we started seeing increases in supermarket sales because people were beginning to cook for themselves at home.
“Speaking to a Tesco representative during the previous lockdown, he said that steak was flying off the shelves, with increased custom seen amongst the younger demographic.
“He predicted it perfectly when he stated that food sales in supermarkets will increase by 25%, basing his judgement on the levels of people that would have normally eaten out at restaurants.
“People simply have to eat somewhere,” Edmond said.
Cull cow market
With cow prices taking a hit of up to 20c/kg over the past week, it is leaving some farmers second-guessing their movements of cull cows for slaughter.
As some dairy farmers are drying off their cows for the spring time, they do not want to be left with an empty and unproductive cow on their farm that is not earning its keep. Their go-to thinking may be to send their cow for slaughter.
A similar scenario can be seen in some suckler herds, with farmers now culling older-type and high index cows which they were previously holding onto, due to requirements set out by participation in the Beef Data Genomics Programme (BDGP).
Speaking on the rise of cow numbers in recent weeks, Edmond noted: “Always around this time of the year we see an increase in cow numbers brought forward for slaughter.
I don’t want to see the cull cow dragging down the price of prime beef. If people have cull cows, go to the mart with them, especially if they are not fit.
Edmond went on to highlight the better trade recorded at marts that can be achieved, in comparison to sending cows for slaughter:
“I know of one case where a farmer was willing to take €300 in the factory for a cow, but he ended up getting €450 in the mart for her. There will be buyers in the marts that are willing to feed these unfit cows on further.
“There are beef men out there that make their money from feeding-on these cull cows. The dairy farmer is more focused on putting his time into milking cows rather than feeding on cull cows and this is rightly so in some cases because that is not their business.”
Edmond concluded by saying: “The key message that I would try to get across to farmers is that if they have unfit cows, do not kill them. They will only be fooling themselves and damaging the trade at the same time.”