Beef price tracker 2

There will be a price rise as EU beef supplies are dropping. However it will have little to do with China. Feeding costs are horrendous so supply will tighten as we enter into March/April. It will be interesting to see kill figures over the next 3-4 weeks. As well wat h the factory return's as the price given for contracted cattle become visible.

@Cavanjack that's true they bought feck all of anything good the last time & if I remember correctly cattle couldn't from a feed lot or a heard that was restricted within the previous 12 months..

Yeah they’d be fussy about what they eat alright 😄

If you do slaughter them from the shed what would your carcase weight be? I'd say 270kgs so if there's a prime price of 5,40 how would that fair?...I'd always work backwards with winter finishers.

You bought them right anyhow.

Fair going, Seem to be doing well. I presume you have allowed for the mart empty 400kg belly versus the maybe not so empty 425 kg belly? 30 days is a short enough period to get a handle on how cattle do, maybe weigh again in a month and compare to early December and make a decision then.

in saying that, cattle seem to be thriving very well at present. I was clipping a couple of pens last night and I was pleasantly surprised by how well they are doing. On good silage and 1.5kg beef nut.

Just be careful as the 30c will be eaten up by the fact that they will probably grade O=/- . IMO most dairy cross AAx/HEx heifers come into that range on the grid.

Heavy stock on fire at Roscrea this evening. On martbid there now. €3/kg and above for good Angus heifers from dairy herds.

The store man is going to have to have deep pockets for the next while.

They have and they have not. Costs are horrendous. For smaller finisher's rations are costing 450+/ton. With silage costs. Increased as well. Finishing costs are 4-5/day. For to put 120 kgs LW onto an animal is probably costing 500/ head. Add 500 euro to the price if any animal in a mart and wonder if there is a margin for the buyer

Weanlings are cheap and finished cattle are cheap.

Costs are off the charts.

No point in reinventing the wheel. While beet is a good feed it's advantage is you can feed a certain quantity to increase intake above normal DM intake in cattle. However it's usually prices above Barley or maize per unit of energy. You have to buy it in truck loads so not applicable to average farmer.

Advice on winter finishing stay away from it as much as possible. Take it this year at present locally the premium at present over early October finished stock is at most 35c/ kg this week that is a out 100-150 euro on 325-350 kg carcass'es. It's not worth it.

June cattle will be 30-40c/ kg above NY prices most years. If you have a winter less than 130 days WTF would you WF. Ya you will always have a few every autumn that will be borderline as to whether to finish or not. However it's probably makes more sense let them go over age and kill next June.

Ya clover swards and MSS will have a place but early grass probably require a certain amount of N. MSS need a lot of P&K and saving are not as much as many think. They are unsuitable for silage making because the sward will not last. Red Clover is not the Mecca many think it is. There is an issue with replacing it continually it takes over swards as well and as RC content rises preservation issues arise.

Unless processors give forward prices/ contracts for WF cattle I will keep away as much as possible