Beef prices have rallied since October last year and remain on a positive trajectory in most cases with a large degree of market positivity seen across the Irish beef sector in recent months.
As beef farmers will know, winter beef finishing is a high-risk, high-cost system and is often dependant on beef prices increasing significantly to deliver a margin.
Last November, Teagasc’s manager of the DairyBeef 500 campaign Alan Dillon gave a guideline of the beef prices required to deliver a €100/head margin in a winter beef finishing system.
The table below is a guideline winter finishing budget for three different steer systems showing the beef price required to deliver a profit margin of €100/head:
Friesian AAX/HEX Continental Purchase weight (kg) 500kg 500kg 500kg Purchase cost (€) €1,170 €1,355 €1,632 Variable costs (meal @ €370/t) €471 €471 €470 Fixed costs (€) €95 €97 €101 Total cost (€) €1,736 €1,923 €2,203 Carcass weight (kg) 326kg 332kg 375kg Price required (€/kg) for €100/head margin €5.63/kg €6.09/kg €6.14kg
Dillon highlighted that the carcass weights predicted in the table above are in excess of what is generally achieved nationally and would be more expected by top finishers who have significant expertise in finishing cattle.
The values included in the budget are guideline figures and the costings and price required to achieve the required margin will vary from farm to farm.
The above table should be used as a template where farmers can include the costing figures relevant to their own systems.
Farmers can click here to view the guideline winter finishing budgets for 2024/25.
Current beef prices
As of Monday, January 6, heifers were being quoted at €5.65/kg on the grid in general with steers (bullocks) being quoted at €5.60/kg on the grid.
As a general guide, U grade cows are being quoted at €5.50/kg this week with R grade cows being quoted at €5.40/kg. O grade cows are being quoted at €5.00-5.20/kg with €4.90-5.00/kg being quoted for P grade cows.
Under-24-month bulls are being quoted at €5.90/kg for U grade bulls with €5.80/kg being quoted for R grade bulls in general.
O grade bulls are being quoted at €5.60/kg and P grade bulls are being quoted at €5.50/kg. Under-16-month bulls are being quoted at €5.60/kg on the grid in general.