Beef price tracker 2

Bass Reeves · 21-01-2025 01:18AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123079035#Comment_123079035

600 kg heifer losing 30 kgs going to the mart is 570@ 3.4/ kg= 1938. Mart deductions = 25-32.5/ head. Haulage and risk of having to bring home

600kg AA KO@ 51% = 306@6.4/ kg is 1958 Factory deduction = 11 euro and 6 euro AA bonus. You have your haulage cost

If you are able to get 6.3/6.4 from the factory you be off your head to to go to the mart. You would want 3.5+ in the mart to match it

At present if you have small numbers of Continental cattle you are probably better off going to the mart. A factory heifer base is about 5.8, QA is 20c/ kg, AA bonus is 20c/ kg. Fairly decent AA heifers will grade O= or better, deductionnis 12-18c/ kg. So 6.02/6.08. However if you are buying your calves from a dairy farmer make sure he registeres the sire details of the calf. This qualifies you for the ABP top up of 20c/ kg giving a price of 6.22/6.28.

The 570kg heifer mart weight making 1938 allowing for a 15 euro difference in mart and slaughter fees made 6.28/ kg factory price

grass10 · 21-01-2025 09:58AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123079167#Comment_123079167

I didn’t see bandon mart yesterday were all the Angus qa and underage I've seen total jex cattle being sold as Angus they make a different price to real Angus

Angus heifers ko from dairy cows mid 550 kg live always have a lower ko compared to a big aa steer they will usually have big bellies at best they will do 52% from mart weight

Bass Reeves · 21-01-2025 10:47AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123079561#Comment_123079561

It's not common now or for the last 5 years to see Jex's registered as AA. Dairy farmers are afraid of the come back. A genetic test will show it up and the dairy farmer will be responsible. Jex heifers would never be registered as AA unless it was a genuine mistake. That rodeo is over now. Much more like to be a LM calf registered as an AA.

Heifer's usually KO much the same or better than bullocks this time of year due to the higher level of finish they are carried/ will achieve at sub 24 months. Any heifer over 540 mart weight will be a 4 fat score and more than likely an O+. Going over fat is the risk but flat pricing solves that.

As an aside processors are starting to try to pull lamb prices

https://m.independent.ie/farming/sheep/first-signs-of-push-back-from-factories-as-dawn-drop-hogget-quote-by-20ckg/a1682543601.html

WoozieWu · 21-01-2025 12:24PM

https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/new-record-prices-reached-at-recent-cattle-mart-sales/

grass10 · 21-01-2025 12:42PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123079710#Comment_123079710

I saw that about the lamb price it seems to happen a few times every year when lambs/ewes go up rapidly the next week the factories pull the price down some bit to try and stabilise things a bit

You must not know dairy farmers very well they are not 1 bit afraid of getting caught at anything some posting here seemed to think that it was okay to spread slurry last week, their was still over 20000 calves slaughtered last year despite bord bia pretending to threaten them, plenty of them have no issue with registering calves to breeds that may not be correct. Many dairy farmers try to do their best but others don't seem to care

Rover198 · 21-01-2025 03:03PM

lots of talk on price what’s actually available at the moment? Have a few ready now AA and FR. Base 5.85 on offer from agent I usually deal with. + 20c ABP scheme

Bass Reeves · 21-01-2025 03:30PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123080756#Comment_123080756

Is that the ABP early slaughter bonus for U24 month cattle. You will get the QA and AA bonus on top. Make sure to get them to tell you what the AA bonus should be. Officially it's is 15c/ kg but so.e factoriesate paying more some less

Bass Reeves · 21-01-2025 03:44PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123080124#Comment_123080124

Dairy farmers have a single year opt out on Animal Welfare where they can slaughter calves once off. A number of dairy farmers that were slaughtering calves opted for this. However calf slaughter numbers were 20k less in 2024 than 2023 . There will always. E a certain amount slaughtered on welfare issue. A dairy farmer can arrange to slaughter a few because of health or welfae issues. However there is a threshold that Bord Bia will nor provide QA after.

Expect the 20k number to drop to around 10k where it will remain. And as I.posted incorrect registration of calf breeds is uncommon now with black friesians

grass10 · 21-01-2025 05:53PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123080993#Comment_123080993

I never knew about this 1 year opt out for calf slaughter that's an absolute disgrace the rest of us are trying to keep every animal alive and yet we have a small cohort who think it's okay to milk more cows than they can handle and slaughter surplus calves which are so badly bred nobody wants them yet their is a great market for property bred calves

White Clover · 21-01-2025 06:57PM

Years ago the bull Inspector used to go around checking for Sinn Fein bulls (cross bred yokes). Fines were issued if badly bred cattle were found. He could do with being brought back again but this time both males and females should be inspected for ability to breed saleable calves.

WoozieWu · 21-01-2025 07:24PM

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1AxsfCju57/

super prices

Bass Reeves · 22-01-2025 10:29AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123081463#Comment_123081463

The opt out was in case of a TB breakdown but no conditions were attached. Even though it was coming some dairy farmers were caught off guard. It was announced late '23 abd bought in from January '24. Some farmers had no facilities especially on leased farms.

I am see a few dairy dispersals of cross bred herds is this lads exiting as with the new regs they will need to carry calves to 6-8 weeks. A few of these were just letting the dairy bull run for the season and slaughtering everything.

Aly Daly · 22-01-2025 02:22PM

What type of store to beef bullocks do people on here recommend for summer grazing,would friesans be a good buy given the mad prices expected for stores ,usually buy around the 500kg+ 22/26 month bracket grazing early March to early October.

older by the day · 22-01-2025 05:09PM

These lads won't give trump a chance to increase his tariffs

https://www.beefcentral.com/trade/brazil-fills-entire-2025-us-beef-quota-in-17-days/

Bass Reeves · 22-01-2025 10:38PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123084564#Comment_123084564

All you can do is try to buy what you perceive as value. Saw friesan heifers 3by 360kgs 18-36 months old sold for 620 euro, 2 by 357kgs 24 months @ 870, 1 by 324kgs 24 months@700 in Castleisland, AA heifer 27 months ( friesian) 360kgs @770 euro.

Another option is to look for young dry cows. Biggest problem summer grazing this year is financing the purchases of cattle. The way things are going 30 cattle 450kg He or AA could cost up on 50k when fees and transport are added by early March

Aly Daly · 22-01-2025 11:17PM

At €1600+ for those types of cattle it leaves things very tight as ever even with the present high prices for finished animals, I hope I am wrong but it is hard to see the current €p/kg being sustained as I think inevitably beef will become even more expensive in the butchers & supermarkets which is probably not sustainable however it is probably in line with the rest of the high cost of living.

50HX · 22-01-2025 11:36PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123086871#Comment_123086871

Which is why instead of financing the stock purchases this year prob 40k considering I won't start hanging anything til mid June I'm prob goin to sell grass growing & let of circa 25 acres.

Processors are like bookies, the house always wins long term so I'm fooked if I'm laying out 40+k to gamble.

Albert Johnson · 22-01-2025 11:41PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123086871#Comment_123086871

Those sort of odds and ends of cattle are probably a safer bet atm but it's hard to buy them in any great numbers. You'd have to cast the net far and wide to get into a quantity of them compared to other sorts of stock. If beef price takes a tumble then they'll also be harder sold in the autumn but in that scenario the men with the fancier inspec stock at bigger money are in bother too.

As for the cows the problem with them is that if they've any scum of flesh at all then there worth more to slaughter straight away than to graze and kill next autumn. There's very little cows here in the north West sub €1000 and any sort of a half middling beef bred store is from €1200/1300 and upwards. As above if the beef takes a hit between now and the autumn they might not be worth much more fat. All the backward dairy cows that would traditionally have been bought for grazing are being slaughtered straight away atm, you just couldn't compete to house them to grass time and summer them compared to killing price.

nearlybreak · 23-01-2025 10:05PM

cows making 4 euro a kg in gortalea 🤔

Bass Reeves · 24-01-2025 11:17AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123087183#Comment_123087183

I am full at present lucky enough. I am always afraid to leave myself exposed to a late winter early spring market. It one of the reasons I got away from finishing everything out of the shed, big ration bill and hard to replace cattle, it is nearly impossible to have finishing and replacements together during the winter. Having to provide housing and silage costs serious money.

Ya it hard to pick those sorts up in numbers but if you settled into it from now to late March you woukd probably pick up 30+ providedyou were willing to spend 6-10 hours a week on LSL.

LSL is good for that you just go through the catalogue around midday every week and check what is on offer then just watch the sectiin of the mart you are interested in.

Dozer1 · 24-01-2025 11:20AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123091329#Comment_123091329

I was surprised his sale went ahead yesterday and today, it must have been fair rough pulling out of there last night for the lads who were there

Albert Johnson · 24-01-2025 06:31PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123094039#Comment_123094039

I agree about watching the online apps and there's more opportunities to buy stock now than ever before. As for buying cattle in the springtime for summer grazing I think it's becoming a break even venture in a lot of cases. If you're intending on making money out of cattle then you need to be able to hold stock all year round imo and purchase replacements when there's value to be had. There's always certain times of the year when cattle can be bought right enough and you need to capitalise on that. For example there was a few weeks last July/August when the trade lulled a bit and cattle bought at the time would be worth a lot more today.

Keeping cattle only for the summer months means an easier life and ticks the boxes. However you're competing ringside with every other man with the same ideas come spring.

grass10 · 24-01-2025 07:24PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123094050#Comment_123094050

No issue getting out of their as most big animals leaving there leave on deckers and tend to get loaded fast enough it's basically dominated by factories and private feedlot buyers

kk.man · 24-01-2025 07:28PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123095803#Comment_123095803

I agree with you Albert, to a certain extent. If you buy 550kgs bullocks no matter what shape or breed you'll get hammered. Your rival is either a contract factory feed lot or a big finisher. You are on a hidding to know where with that. Your rival has at least 30c more than you in the backend which is c 100e. Those could even be bought for a shed or in the times we live now hung the next day if fleshy. My spring 24 purchased cattle left a net margin of 300e for my outside farm. Even if cattle price had to fall like other years in the autumn I was still making money. In the ring just keep away from what the general populous want and your margin will improve, spring, summer, Autum or winter.

Albert Johnson · 24-01-2025 08:03PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123095996#Comment_123095996

That's good going to achieve that margin and it's a nice earner on an outfarm. I agree that trying to compete for the heavier short keep cattle is a waste of time as the economy of scale is against the average farmer.

As for staying away from what the general populous want it's not that simple either. In the springtime the general summer man wants something middle of the road with 4 feet, a head, a tail and most importantly a blue card. Yes there might be odd bits of value in real odd ball cattle but anything reasonably straight and that isn't a total screw usually makes over the odds in my experience.

The likes of those small (sub 200kg) stock with a bit of age to them can often be worth a punt if you've good land (provided there healthy and not really stunted). However you need to be able to winter them again as there not suited to reselling in the backend and the real twist is in killing them the following year. If you've no means of wintering them then there no good to you which is why there's not as much competition in the first place.