Beef price tracker 2

There is only three processors locally. They are two ABP and a Dawn plant. Nearest is 10ish miles both the other are 30 and 40 miles respectively. They do not price against each other to any great extent.

Ya if you are a regular supplier( as in killing 200+ cattle a year 50% during the winter) you probably get 5-10c more but.

One issue with Friesian's especially if feeding outside is you red too ebon stronger bullocks as they get fit as they prevent other from finishing.

Cattle are slaughtered in the order they arrive. Cattle arriving the evening before ate slaughtered first, next the early morning ones and then the later morning cattle.

Cattle arriving at 7-8am go up the line around 11am-1pm depending on what came in the night before.

I do not but there is an agent buying cattle off people that do that, I would not unless the price reflects the fact. These cattle would be travelling 70-90 miles, he buys all over Limerick and would have a double going most days of the week. See him loading around mid day on Sundays lately

In theory everything you say above is true. However he is not going to change the way he operates for 6-10 cattle every now and again. It would take a lot of his existing suppliers to insist on it to force him to change his ways. He buys out of the local marts and I see him at a couple of Kerry marts as well so that is the reason he wants to move cattle early in the evening

While the factory in Ennis was open it added an option locally but it is closed now.

You are talking about up to a 2% kill out difference between night and morning drop off to a lairage

Assuming it 1.5% even on a 330 kg bullocks that is 5kgs or 25+euro at present per animal

I expect that the cattle are traveling a distance 80-100 miles. Most lads with a jeep and box would want 100++ to go that distance. Probably an option for 5 but not for 3.

We'd always put in our lambs the evening before, load them at 6am next morning, and wouldn't be killed until 3pm then..... it never did the KO any harm, all they lose in gutflll

Any figures I saw on research over the years was 2% difference. A 700jg animal hanging 370kgs DW the extra loss could up to 7.5kg weight difference.

Now more than likely you will lose a certain amount anyway unless they went straight up the line. There are a few reasons for the losses cattle tend to stand longer in a new environment and tend not to look for drinking points even if present.

Technically lairages are supposed to provide feed. The feed points I say are high above cattles heads and a giraffe is the only animal I think could feed from them........even if there was hay in them.

There is no way I would load cattle at 3pm for slaughter the following day. If I drop in the night before I try to leave it until 9pm or after. At that I would expect them to be going up the line at around 8am.

As Jjam says the buyers are pricing on an empty stomach and will have there figures fairly accurate from constantly buying

I seldom seen cattle in the mart that make more than if they we t straight to the factory. Ya it happens for 4-6 weeks in early summer and maybe one or twice more when processors are short of cattle but generally the buyers are making 100+ after costs

You have to be very disciplined. It is very hard to break into as the lads around the rung will seldom leave a man in. They even push the processors who are buying direct to the limit

I thought you might know him.

A lot of factories kill cattle to orders or the boning hall and these hit the chills to be ready for the next day, a lot of factories are bringing cattle in at night to cut down on vet shifts in the lairage and to have them processed on the Dept system for the next morning and don’t mix the kill with cows killed last or TB reactors.

Or what's being rumored around here...a cover for something else.

It's a small world..I heard the same!

Sadly not always