Beef price tracker 2

Kill is beginning to tighten. It's back 4-500 over the jast few weeks. There is supposed to be 70-80k less cattle in the country and we are only 30k behind this time jast year which had a particularly strong kill early in the year.

With the price of beef and the price of ration a lot of lads will be reluctant to feed cattle on grass. The price drop will stop soon I say

Hi all, I sent a bullock 22mths to the factory last week and he graded O+1+, he killed out at 290kg DW but only paid €4.00 a kg, Granted he was stone mad but and may not have had the fat covering, but €4.00kg seems a bit harsh?

Id take the money and run.....it sounds like he was wired to the moon with a fat score like that....the factory did you a favour here.....

Well he was a limo cross out of friesian and he was in good condition, had been on good grass as was a vasectomised bull running with cows, he was just getting rowdy.

Thanks, he probably spent the previous 2 weeks running from cow to cow😂 so that didn’t help him😂

Think you did OK if not part of a load.

Last week Boys beside me had a 28 month old bull fs 1+, paid at 5. 00 flat tho as part of a full load.

First time for me haveing an under fat young bull happened this week, fat score 1+, agent has said it'll make the 5 euro base regardless, but I'll know exactly when cheque comes.

You still done OK as it was a single, you might have been entitled to more, but you weren't screwed overly either.

I move cattle as they are fit. I have hung 15 so far this year and the next bunch will probably go in 2-3 weeks time.

The only point I was making was that it stopped around 4.8 last year and held at that until October.

There is only money lost if you cannot replace what you sold with your margin attached.

Biggest thing that effects your margin is feeding costs. High cost systems similar to some in dairying struggle when prices drop. Short term systems can often see capital investment deteriorating very rapidly and as well there system can struggle as there costs are high.

Its ok here so far

Every one who bought cattle this year is going to lose their shirt ,and on top every one who reared calves last year is going to lose their shirt when they sell their stores and if they are depending on you to bid for stores they will be barefoot as well!!!

I buy stores that most will not buy as it takes too long to finish them. I buy in the mart 90% of the time. I am always the highest bidder when I buy. Nobody else has outbid me. I am exactly the same as any other bidder around the ring or remote bidding all the other lads chose not to outbid me as the animals are too far from finish.

I never claim sainthood. You probably have left more barefoot than me.

If there is money lost it's because lads spend too much money finishing cattle too fast without a contract.

If you gamble you do not always win. Betting a couple of hundred K on Larry's generosity is not a the sure fire bet many think.

I run a low cost system. I have 20 cattle to go. Reckon they will be €250 back on what they were a few weeks ago. That’s €5,000 to me.

Im sure you’ll argue that’s not actually a lost €5k but I was planning on doing a few things on the farm and had factored that figure but won’t be now

either way prices are in free fall

Suckler's are a dead end game. You have not got the output becauee you have to carry a cow that will only produce one calf at best ( and the national average is 0.8 calves/ cow) every 12+ months. Even in a low cost system that calf carries a debt of 500 euro the day it lands on the ground.

Recently a suckler farmer said to me that a suckler should be getting paid 6/kg base. WTF should it be in general most Bulls and bullocks are outside retail spec for the UK supermarket. Notice the way there is no more talk about changing grid variations as everything above an R+ and 370 kgs would have to be penalized to make it work and processors know they would have to flat price everything below O=/O-.

PS I forgot the Suckler cow exit scheme that the FJ, IFA,ICSA, BP etc all lobbied against now looks much better.It was nothing short of a disgrace it was shot down. It would have set up a lot od lads who wanted to exit a sustem that looks inherently unprofitable below a base of 5/kg

I agree entirely Anto. When ever you buy an animal he should stay until the hook. Having said that there is a lad starting near me rearing calves. He took about 50 Friesians off a dairy farmer for free at 18-21 days this year. Every calf came with 20-30litres of beastings. He was getting it out into April.

I saw them lately flaking calves up around 200kgs. Last April the Friesian's he reared from the year before averaged 590 euro. He was happy enough. As working off calf cost this year he expects a margin of near or over 200/head. He out winters them.on Kale.

For once Bass, you’re bang on - couldn’t have written that first paragraph better myself…..

I agree prices almost identical. The same drop and panic it would not stop were here last year. I think many do not understand that it's seldom the processors get caught twice.

The benefits of high growth rates over the winter are often over estimated. Compensatory growth over 8-10 weeks will make up the difference where the difference in growth rate is moderate ( as in between high DMD early mid May silage which is often low to mid DM and high DMD silage 70-72 DMD which is high DM. The DMD is often reduced by the drying process) and there will be little difference in weight at slaughter.

Its similar with other costs advocated by Teagasc to keep growth rates up such as rushing in with bales or adding in ration when growth rate is dropping, aggressive reseeding, taking out paddocks for bales at the 4-6 week stage and introducing bales 2-3 weeks later.

Cost is very unforgiving in beef. 20c/ kg on a 350kg animal is 70 euro. Its easy to swallow up a price drop in extra cost and lose out on extra weight gain

There was never a base price of 6/ kg this year