Beef price tracker 2

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118946283#Comment_118946283

Yes and no prices are great for cattle at present. Heifers are easier to get into FS and flesh than bullocks. If she is any way decent they should grade O= purely from the flesh on them.

At 4.85 flat it's a base of 4.83 if she graded O=. S lot of mince is boing minced or made onto burgers at present at present and it is flying out the door.

It immaterial whether an beef is off a P, O or R if minced. They would want to be plain heifers to be P's

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118946174#Comment_118946174

Anything that will grade I be starting to feed. I would not be afraid to feed Friesians for 10 weeks. That is when they will be really serious cattle. Go through the lanky lads. Feed a y lad that is black with white legs they will grade as well. Remember an O- gets the 12c on the QA as well. Really makes a huge difference to such cattle and well worth killing under 30 months.

smallbeef

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118946448#Comment_118946448

Solid advice. Hadn't realised can get 12c for O- under 30mths. 12c would be worth it if can get the worst to O- as the weight will be there. 👍️

DBK1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118945798#Comment_118945798

Some great looking friesian’s there Bass.

I was watching Birr mart yesterday and any friesian stores were comfortably making €2.10 - €2.30 per kg. Hard to make money on them at that.

Some of the Birr prices below.

575kg €1270 (at 37 months old!)

460kgs €1120

445kgs €1060

540kgs €1020

475kgs €980

502kgs €1060

575kgs €1250

597kgs €1250

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118946580#Comment_118946580

Again yes anf no. If the havier lads have shapeto them and are100+ days away from 30 months you would be surprised in the twist in them. At present a 330 kg DW bullock O= under 30 months is making 1600 euro. If the price issimilar erly July those heavier Friesians over 550kgs will turn a nicew margin if O-/O=

morphy87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118947811#Comment_118947811

Going by those photos you have a great type of a fresian, you picked them well

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118946522#Comment_118946522

The 12c/kg would be about 40 euro on a 340-350kg carcasse. That will be about 2/3rd of an eight week feeding bill.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118947860#Comment_118947860

TBH they are a good bit ahead of cattle I have ever had. I am very happy with them considering they have never got a kg of ration since I bought them

It goes back to having decent dry silage. My own advice is cut in late May if possible and make dry silage no matter what happens.

With Friesians you learn the colours, after that watch the the rear ends. You have to accept you will not buy them all square. It's a matter of limiting the number of P's in any bunch. After that it's down to what you have to pay for them.

Bought a bunch of six last week. 320 kgs@530 euro. There is one P, one O-, three O=, maybe an O+ in them.

morphy87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118949107#Comment_118949107

Well the game is over if those six don’t leave a decent profit, your right about silage though, early silage is so important, trying the last few years to cut late May myself

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118949571#Comment_118949571

Silage is a balance between quantity and quality. IMO the facination with DMD has gone overboard. Many lads are associating flowering with seedheads. There is no issue with grass going to flower. Ya it will have stem but the obsession with cutting the second week in May is a step too far

DBK1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118949625#Comment_118949625

Correct about DMD, but the most forgotten factor, especially for anyone feeding young stock, is protein. If protein is too low then too much meal is needed to keep them thriving when on silage. DM, Protein then DMD would be how I’d class the order of importance in silage. Mid to late May cutting and a maximum of 48 hours on the ground.

The only thing I would add is lads should spread their fert with the aim of cutting in mid May. It’s easy to delay cutting a week when the time comes if weather is favourable. But if you aim for end of May and fert is applied so you can’t cut before this, you could get a week or 10 days of bad weather, like what happened last year, and all of a sudden it’s the middle of June before you get cutting and silage quality is poor then.

HHH

I've been offered €4.75 base on the grid for Angus and Hereford cattle in the midlands. Am I getting a raw deal? A mix of Rs and Os with good cover. Could it be to do with 2 four day killing weeks coming together?

epfff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118950329#Comment_118950329

How much of a breed bonus? I'm hearing 10/15/20/25/30

At a glance I'm thinking you are been left very short. Beef plan text was @5euro base for heifers and 495 blks yesterday. 10 cent will travel a long way even with the price of diesal.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118950329#Comment_118950329

Local factories have you by the balls. When the FJ is on about soft sellers it fails took at the cost of transport and weight loss if cattle travel the night before. However processor's can be slow to move up on price on AA and HE cattle. Prices in marts can seem very good but you have to allow for increased KO of empty cattle.

What AA bonus are you getting 10 or 20c/ kg. The short week this week and next week will stabilise prices for processor's. They will use it to build up stock for the week after. Probably be mid May before prices really move again for ordinary suppliers.

It might be one to complain to this new quango about for discrimination against smaller suppliers.

kk.man

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118950329#Comment_118950329

What are they bullocks or heifers?

On the Face of it....you are getting a raw deal... what bonuses?..is transport included?..how many have you?

HHH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118950648#Comment_118950648

I only have 8 going this time around. All Bullocks, 4 X AA, 3 X HE and a Limousine.

Standard on the grid bonuses. They're all under 30 months but they're the last of the cattle I've fed over the winter that aren't going to grass.

I'm going to hold off for another few weeks I think. They're all only 26ish months old. Would I fare much better in the marts?

kk.man

IFA: Beef Price Update: 19/04/2022 Steer Base €4.80/4.95kg. Heifers €4.85/5.00kg. Higher deals and flat prices for larger and specialist lots. Y Bulls R/U €4.80/5.00Kg. Cows €4.20/4.75kg

Would you ring around some other factories?..I wouldn't be happy with 4.75 especially for what you have discribed.

ruwithme

If your quality assured, the factories the place at the moment, mart prices wouldn't be matching the factory.

weatherbyfoxer

bought some spring born dairy bred 2020 AA 400kg heifers last November,after just silage going out to grass on march the 17th they averaged 475kg..currently they are grazing paddocks moving to good fresh grass every 6 days..look to be fleshing well now,..would lad consider meal feeding these before slaughter or would they only layer down too much fat?..never had heifers here at that age usally have fr bullocks but got these at €2/kg last November though they be worth a go

Good loser

I'd go for grass only. Had four FS 5 last year in late June. Not good.

weatherbyfoxer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118958799#Comment_118958799

that's my concern, opposite of the usual fr bullocks id have this time of year

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118954649#Comment_118954649

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118958799#Comment_118958799

Overwintered grass can have a ufl.of at or near 1 similar to rolled barley. At what weight do you intend slaughtering them. A friend carries such heifers to 600 kgs. He finds that the majority grade R at that stage. It would be August before they reach that with you. He feeds 2 kgs for the last 6 weeks.

As long as you keep away from FS 5 you are still in the money.

Cavanjack

I wouldn’t be letting any factory cut me for anything this year. Make sure if it before you do the deal. I’ve gotten full bonuses on 2= Bullocks and bullock prices on over 24 month bulls many times over the last few months.

weatherbyfoxer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118959938#Comment_118959938

they have steamed on since the start of April,id be suprised if the arnt doing 1kg/day LW..will be killed in june regardless as im on a very dry farm here which takes drought every 4 years out of 5 from june-august..have never seen cattle do on grass as well when they are mixed with sheep and moved through paddocks every few days

Good loser

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118959767#Comment_118959767

For marginal heifers as J Jameson says above, sell in mart or at a flat price, if that's possible.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118971848#Comment_118971848

Generally AA or HE heifers grade well when they have the weight on O+/R-unless they are very narrow. It only when you slip into O= that you get penalised at 4= FS.

Mart is grand but you would need to know your cattle. Saw a bunch of Friesians 750kg in the mart on LSL one was over 30 months rest were under they made 1740,they were O=/+ cattle and QA they made 100+ less than the mart. A lighter bunch 640 made 100ish less as well.

Ya if you know the value and get two lads bidding you may do better but there is no guarantee. They can grade up to 4+ and get the AA bonus.

weatherbyfoxer

some of these are on there last movement for QA,..straight away it would be a mark against them in the mart,had an agent i know ring me out of the blue there 2 weeks ago wondering if i still had the heifers i bought last backend,..so i reckon ill get a flat price easy enough

morphy87

It will be interesting to see how prices go for the rest of the summer, back our way two men that fatten a nice few cattle bought fed them in the shed, these lads would usually be selling from the start of July onwards, another man has the place set to a dairy farmer he would normally be selling from August on wards

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119065153#Comment_119065153

I cannot understand why you would shed feed forward stores that will not finish before mid/ maybe late May. Out on grass cost will be below a euro/ day for grass. After that 150-180 kgs of maize hulls will finish most cattle. That is 60-70 euro.

Inside you are looking at nearly 5/ day at present. No matter how good a price you get for going 4-6 weeks earlier you will have well eaten into any possible extra margin.

I am feeding 20 at present on grass and 3 kgs maize and oatfeed 70/30 costing 380/ ton. Hulls was another 30/ ton. They are on it nearly two weeks now. I will start to draft in 4-6 weeks time. I will add another ten to this bunch in 7-10 days

epfff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119066088#Comment_119066088

Opportunity cost.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119066697#Comment_119066697

There is only profit that the system brings in over a twelve month period. Unless he is buying cattle for grass as well then that may be opportunity's. There is a few hidden cost in early/mid summer finishing out of a shed.

First there is the cost of bring cattle to a forward store rather than just feeding cattle to bring out of the shed as a store. Of you feed 2kgs to being through the winter so as to feed on.

Next you have extra slurry to spread. As well you have the risk of going into nitrogen derogation territory. These have to be factored against opportunity cost.

There is a minimum 3 euro per day in extra feeding cost between being in a shed compared to being at grass.