Beef price tracker 2

In June 2019, I sold a BWH bullock in the mart 600kgs at €1,100, it was a bad price on the day, but I wasn't going messing about bringing 1 bullock home. A lad I know bought him to feed for a planned 100 days, with the whole beef protest thing he finally got him killed end of October over 30 months. He told me he got €1,115 for him so was out the mart commission & feed cost.

That is just it CJ, thankfully I am not looking to buy anything at the minute (in a 4 month test cycle, due another 1 now in March), but everything is very dear and hard to see any value. Seen ropy enough FR's in Carnaross yesterday 500 Kgs - 600 Kgs, they were making anything for €2 - €2.20 /Kg. Very hard to see a return on them to feed, AA and He in the same weight bracket were €2.30 - €2.50 while Continental bullocks €2.70 - €2.95. Beef will have to be at a base of €5 to cover those cost prices. Now I am told anything with flesh cover is heading North for slaughter, which is obviously good and proves the factories can pay for them when they have to.

Today's Indo had top quarter 600 +kg contential at 2.95 kg.... Where are those prices as couldn't dream of them in West Cork.

Ye guys up country must be raking it in 😂😂😂

€4.45 base for bullocks round here now and €4.50 for u grading bulls.

If I was taking cattle to the mart in spring I would consider a kg depending on silage quality. As I put on the post ''maybe a kg''. If they were going to grass by myself, there is no way they would get a kg.veven at that if my silage was good enough I would be slow to put ration into them if selling.

A 500+ euro gross margin in twelve months on a yearling to store system is not too bad.

They’ll be €5 in a months time at this rate .What part of the country?

OH got two phone calls yesterday morning from factory managers that we haven't dealt with in the last 5 years looking for cattle.

4.65kg heifers allegedly available. How far can it keep going?

There is a load more cattle to go through the system this year compared to last year. In the region of 150k extra if I remember right.

While demand is very strong I would not be betting the house on it.

460 is best of what I can find.

Though it was closer to 100k and last year had about 20k of that eaten into.

When meal prices rise carcass weight always falls. So add that into more smaller dairyx out there. I'd be hopeful of this running into summer.

A friend of mine in Kerry sent me a docket from a load he killed during the week, he had 2 home bred red Angus in it. Both graded U-3, €5.02 per kg after all bonuses. It’s nice to see the €5 being broken!

Not necessarily. With present ration prices you cannot afford to over hd cattle. If anything rising prices tend to see finishers holding cattle. A 20c rise in a month can really change the dynamics of finishing a few animals.

Traditionally shed cattle would start to really come out from early mid February. Processor's used to.pull the price in late January to force farmers to start moving them. However by mid February a lot of cattle would be hitting the 90+ days feeding and starting to go stale if on a high ration diet.

No I think its up around 150k. It's was the first year of COVID, export was disrupted from mid late March on AFAIR. The biggest thing is to keep cattle moving. The 20 k extra younger cattle killed last year will probably go higher than that the end of this year.there is a growing trend to kill HE and AA at 20-22 months. That is why the November bonus is going for AA cattle and 30c available late March to May.

It's a flaw in the early bonus finishing plan. Processor's will just keep pulling the price from October if more young cattle are targeted there.

While the omens are good. EU stock numbers back by 2.5% in the last 5+years and demand is growing world wide for beef and meat in general the biggest thing is keeping them moving. However 4.6 base is only 40c up on November price. It's a 120-130/head on traditional breed carcasses and 150 on Suckler bred carcasses. Ration has eaten half of that up. There was no fortune made from winter finished cattle the last 2-3 years. I much prefer to be hanging a heavier carcase in July/August.

Diesel is often attributed to be a higher costs than it is in reality. I remember years ago when service companies stated to allow staff to take vans home as opposed to parkong in there own compounds.

An accountant said the extra diesel burned was miniscule. Diesel as a cost was only 1.5% if overall running costs. Saving from other area would off set the extra cost. Yes in agri there is more diesel burned as percentage of costs and energy costs are reflected throughout the system.

However a lot of extra costs are more associated with hoarding and projected future prices. Futures for next autumn effect present prices. If you were a grain farmer or merchant and had a way of storing grain you would not be selling unless present prices reflected some of the future price.

It was much the same with gas. EU fertilizer companies saw it was more profitable to sell there gas than produce fertlizer with it

And I still say it. My main point is that as long as farmers are willing to finish cattle out of sheds for large parts of the year that margins on this side of the game will be depressed.

Smaller finishers struggle with higher input costs and on top of that receive 15-30c/ kg less than larger and contracted finishers.

In a grass based system diesel still influences costs bit it influence is less than in high cost feedlot conditions