Beef price tracker 2

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121063906#Comment_121063906

The reason we sometimes have only 2-3 coming home this year is we are buying coloured cattle not friesians. As we are changing cattle types we are a bit more cautious. We will fill loads quicker next year.

When I was working it was always relatively easy to get cattle drawn home. Even at that no need to take day off while some lands cannot ( trades people etc alot can spend there lunchtime buying or an hour here or there if WFH or even get someone else to buy them. Young lad buy them for a neighbour. If you cannot get them delivered hitch up the box and collect them. My Jad bought over half the cattle this year and he works full-time

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121064091#Comment_121064091

Online has been the great equaliser. Dealers cannot intimidate or try to poll you as you can bid again next week.

@epfff &m @kk.man margins are too tight as well no dealer will hand you an animal he can make 2-300 reselling. The other risk is he will buy and land you with a friends cattle that were bid up. Finally buying yourself is very rewarding.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121066250#Comment_121066250

I have to disagree. Your eye trains itself very fast. Another help is a labtop as opposed to phone screen. If you have a good quality connection it helps as well. For most lads that cannot get in close to the ring it as good as being at the mart. Having said that certain marts better than others. There was a few where the ring man was not moving cattle around. Again like having a good auctioneer Mauty Hasan excellent ring man. By the end of a busy mart he must have 30k+ steps put up.

Remember lads you have a choice.....you can always see the problems but if you look hard enough it's easy to see the solutions.

Robson99

Mind me asking why you are moving away from the Friesans Bass ??

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121066515#Comment_121066515

Not moving away completely, we will buy them early in the year. Most Friesians are February born now so you have a glut to get out in August. With the slaughter bonus coming in next year anyway it will put more pressure on the August downturn.

You are getting a lot of Friesians hanging at or under 300 kgsDW ( not Frx or Jex's but actuals FR's) so harder to buy the lads that will leave a few that will leave an 8-900 euro gross margin.

We will probably buy 20 ish at the start of the year when coloured yearlings are expensive. But we are buying coloured heifers and coloured rangy bulls for 2-2.2/ kg makes more sense than paying 1.8+/ kg for decent friesians or 1.6-1.8 for lighter ones

Albert Johnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121066250#Comment_121066250

I work in marts 5 days a week and I can honestly say since the online bidding started I've yet to hear anyone say that the beast they came to collect looked worse on camera. However I've heard the opposite dozens of times, granted some lad's wouldn't know the difference in a screw and something half decent either on or off screen but I wouldn't be happy buying solely off the camera.

I only buy small numbers at a time and if I end up with one hoor of a thing then it's enough to take the good out of the bundle. Buying them right the first day is half the battle in my experience and if you miss that then you're on the back foot straight away.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121066272#Comment_121066272

Personally if I went to the bother of going to look at them then I'd stay to bid for them. I can't understand how going home again and trying to watch for them going through is more efficient. You then have to sit back into you're vehicle and hit back for the mart to lift them and maybe only 1 or 2 bought.

I'd be looking at the phone every 5 minutes at home and I'd like to see what the trade was like and get my bearings. If I went at anything at home then I'd guarantee that I'd miss them going through, there'd be no internet or it would freeze when they'd be in the ring. Failing that I'd probably put whatever I was at to loss because I wasn't focusing on the job in hand but that's no ones fault only my own.

roosterman71

Anyone going to the mart and bidding via LSL on their phone while there? Maybe the best of both worlds

Jb1989

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121066704#Comment_121066704

Yes. Regularly bid ringside on phone.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121066704#Comment_121066704

And diesel and a day wasted if you buy nothing. The way I look at LSL is it's a tool. You either adapt to it or ignore it. It's 15-20 euro to hook up the box take it and bring it home from a mart. If I have one or two bought I start hooking up the box.

There is nothing to fear but fear itself. As @Albert Johnson alluded to I have seldom arrived to be disappointed. One Thursday morning as I was loading out of Gortnalea the lad there asked what I paid and when I told him he said they were big cattle for that money.

ABlur

I do this in Ennis mart, sit up the back and click away. It's a big enough mart not to be noticed. I find seeing the cattle in the ring is better than bidding from home.

Conversations 3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121066704#Comment_121066704

Only way to go, silent assassin 🥷

Siamsa Sessions

I've bought off the phone while sitting in the car at the mart before. It was 7-8 calves two years ago.

I bought 20 from ringside last year and got a doing off the dealers. One big heavy lad told me he'd buy them for me, and he'd get them cheaper. Nah, you're grand I said. A few other dealers then kept pushing on some of the calves when they saw me bidding.

I should have sat out in the car and fired up the LSL app again 😀

DBK1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121067065#Comment_121067065

In that scenario ringside you need to have to have your wits about you! Have the price in your head that you won’t go over for that animal. Bid fast until you get there then stop, don’t get drawn into a battle with the dealers. They love to see a lad thinking about will he or won’t he bid again, they know you’re rattled then.

Bid fast, stop fast at your limit and after a few lots they’ll know you know what you want and what you’re doing and will probably leave you be to buy a few.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121067065#Comment_121067065

It a bit like the story of the scorpion and the frog.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanellis/2015/04/24/the-scorpion-and-the-frog-a-tale-of-modern-capitalism/amp/

It is simply in there nature.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121067116#Comment_121067116

And after the first couple of times they know your limit. If they can offload to a sucker at that price they will keep you from buying. If not they will bid you to that every time.

Stay at home and bid away and collect them after the mart

StevenToast

Any prices this week?...i have a load going and Id like to have abit of info before the cheque is drawn up.....

Any chance of 4.70 for bullocks?

Sheep breeder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121065703#Comment_121065703

Agree with what you’re saying, about the online bidding it has taken a lot of the shite out of around the ring. It’s all about watching the board for weight/ age and moves and owners name etc. in three of the marts we attended we have a chap looking at the cattle and telling the lots of heifers that suit our job if we don’t attend, the day of the dealer buying and showing cattle in another mart is nearly gone with the board name and number of moves and costs. It is only for the poor type of cattle and most try to buy on the land and sell in the mart.

Sheep breeder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121066340#Comment_121066340

Yes the ring man makes a difference to the camera, but the man in gortalea makes the ring job hard turning the cattle around. The auctioneer in the mart is a good fellow at his job and gets on with it compared to the all day men up along the west coast.

leoch

Some of the ring men in one mart I go to is very fond of using and poking the cattle in the ring with his stick it fcukin makes my blood boil

Albert Johnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121067293#Comment_121067293

The trap a lot of lad's fall into is being too predictable when it comes to buying stock. Some lad's pride themselves on buying everything they bid for and that's a fatal mistake imo, you were as well to carry a sign saying polling booth open. I'd say I buy about 10% of what I'd bid for on an average day.

Also having a set limit for stock is also a recipe for being polled if you make it obvious and the other lad's get to know about it from watching you. I'd bid for a range of colours and weights if they suited at the money and could fall off something in a heartbeat especially if I thought either the auctioneer or someone else was doing me. Granted with the online it's a bit harder to know if there's someone genuinely going for them or whether you're just being pushed on but it's no harm to pull the handbrake occasionally either. That way no one knows exactly what you're going to do and there more cautious about taking you on.

I've a few friends that are auctioneers and they often tell me that you'd get to know what different lad's are like over time and who's a sure bet to poll on when needed. There's certain men you could drive on and on and they'll still be there at the fall of the hammer and more you could take out with 1 bid if they smelt a rat. If you're trying to put together a bundle of stock you'd be better to have an average price in mind for whatever group you're looking to assemble. That way if you got 1 bought a bit less you could give a bit more for the next one and it would even itself out over the day without looking really obvious that you had a line in the sand.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121067781#Comment_121067781

I say he is expected to keep them in front of the camera from both angles and try to get cattle I. A bunch switched in and out of the camera. I think he dose a great job compared to sone ring men

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121069213#Comment_121069213

As you say unpredictability is your friend. The day they can predict what you are really interested in and how much you will pay is the day they will screw you.

I never really think about getting polled online as in a flash I am gone. Sometimes I will hesitate sometimes not. Most of the time I bid to my price and stop. I dislike stopping at an exact price point like 600 or 650 as you can knock another felka off at that point, like 2 or 2.2/ kg.

Jjameson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121069213#Comment_121069213

A marvellous gentleman (sadly rip 5 or 6 years) used to frequent only one local mart and Kilkenny, because of the size of the rings. If he liked them, he bought them. His “tell” was a second long look at the board, the auctioneer always encouraged him for one last tip and knocked them😂

Sheep breeder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121069338#Comment_121069338

Did that man own a few pubs in Dublin and the cattle were only a sideline, see now they sell some of them bullocks in Carnew show day.

Albert Johnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121069292#Comment_121069292

I'm probably too cautious if anything and can pull up short at times but dear cattle are poison imo and I'd rather be sorry for not buying something as opposed to being sorry for buying it. Having said that I don't take much heed of stopping at a set figure either bar I thought some lad was pushing me on then it's grand to pull up at for example €680 and him come €690 fully expecting to stick you with them at €700. However I always say it's a good man that will value a beast to the last €10 or €20 so I'd often chance one more bid over what I had initially expected if everything seemed above board.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121069753#Comment_121069753

Something similar myself. I try to gauge the market on the night. I be buying plain coloured cattle. I am happy enough buying at up to 2.2/ kg if you get are up at 400kgs especially as they will be up to 100 kgs heavier at housing, picking a lot up a bit less than that some as low as 1.8/ kg.

Albert Johnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121069338#Comment_121069338

He was fortunate that the last bid always seemed to be the winning bid for some reason. I don't generally bother going against lad's like that as when there finished with something it's of little use to anyone and they always get lots of help to get there stock bought. The same goes for certain lad's selling if I seen them numbering stock or there name on the board I'd steer clear. There always out to get a klondike for whatever there selling and you're wasting you're time bidding for them if you want something resembling value.

Albert Johnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121069781#Comment_121069781

You have to be prepared to mix and match to a certain extent. It's grand going in and picking out I'm going to buy X,Y and Z but it becomes an expensive undertaking most of the time. You're only codding yourself if you expect to buy every one of them cheap but if you got a bit of value this time you could stomach giving a bit more than anticipated for the next one to put with them and average it out.

The biggest disaster of all in a way is buying the first one at very right money especially if you're looking to buy another few. You spend the rest of the sale comparing everything to you're first purchase and will probably leave things after you that weren't that bad of value upon reflection but paled in comparison to what you'd already bought. That's not to say you should give a rob for the first one but hitting the jackpot right away isn't always the business either.

A local man who buys a lot of cattle for jobs would always comment upon the hammer falling to you for something looking good value that "he's as good as buying 2". That was grand until you put you're hand out for something else and he enquired whether you wanted them all today and somehow they never ended up as cheap after that.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121069855#Comment_121069855

I know what you mean. A few weeks back a bunch I was the highest bidder on was pulled by the owner, he wanted 50 more I was willing to come 30 more. I was sorry I did not give it the following day. However it probably was no harm as it pointed out to the mart that I will only go far.

Albert Johnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121069896#Comment_121069896

I showed bullocks in a mart I don't usually frequent the week of the Galway races (a real bus man's holiday and I wouldn't know anything about the races, all Irelands ect being on only for others talking about them as I'm useless that way). Cattle had taken a bit of a hit at the time but I got on as well as I expected and it didn't work out too bad. The last bullock of mine into the ring finished at €1370 and he was part of a few that I hoped to average over €1400 for which I had achieved as he was the lowest priced one. When the auctioneer turned around I enquired as to him trying whoever was the highest bidder for €1400. His exact words were "it's well and truly over at that and he's either on or off at it". The man probably had a point and I told him to hammer the bullock at it.

I decided to take advantage of a slack day to buy a few replacements and the weanling trade wasn't that exciting either. I pulled in around the ring and had 4 bought handy enough after the first few pens. There was a man with a pen full of good CH weanlings around 350-450kg and he missed every one of them. The last one in was 290kg of a real good golden one and I wound up the highest bidder at €970 (I wouldn't usually venture that high but he looked right value enough and I watched 260kg of hardly as good a one make €1000 today at work). The auctioneer challenged me for €1000 for the hammer. I shook my head and said not a chance, in fairness he didn't push it any further and I wasn't anyway insulted but it was no harm to lay down the marker either especially after earlier.

leoch

How fo u mean.....

.he missed everyone of them.....

amacca

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121067116#Comment_121067116

Good advice so long as its not too predictable...I used to move around the back if I was in the mart so I wasn't a sitting duck/they couldn't get a bead on me, try to position myself directly behind them up the back but beside lads .....it irritated the shite out of some of them that they had to keep turning around looking back to see who was bidding against them...then theyd get a spotter😅...so drop out for a while ..drop back in (try time that with stuff you dont want if youve looked at the lots beforehand..I'd also get in early at low money on stuff I wasn't interested in and drop out as randomly as possible ...then not bid on certain lots if they were similar to what I had been buying (sacrifice a good lot or two/or the lesser of a type)...basically try not let them see a pattern....

Occasionally try leave them with an expensive one....but that's a dangerous game with more risk for me than when they are working with each other.

Albert Johnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121070084#Comment_121070084

He didn't sell any of them. He wasn't really getting enough for the heavier ones to be fair and they'd probably make another €100-€150 more apiece atm but that was a month ago and it wasn't easy to know it then either.