Once cattle land in a factory lairage they cant leave it, so they have to be slaughtered. If an animal is less than 6 months out of test and I think its 80% of the remaining animals in your herd are in test then there is no issue. If an animal is more than 6 months out of test and less than 80% of the heard is out of test then your herd is restricted until you have a clear test.
Got 5.40 flat for fr bulls today. 3 made over € 2200 . what a difference a year makes. They averaged 1955 . Hopefully all those that gave up winter finishing won't start again next year
Great price. Replacing them will be the problem
There is no problem replace them with Friesian calves. At present 40-60 euro is buying good For calves. The bulls average 360 ISH. You would pick up friesian bull yearlings in the Mart for 1.7 to 2/ kg
That’s great money. You must have had a good load of them to get that money?
Actually I've often had them heavier but I went a couple of weeks earlier this year . Mine are British friesian but there are guys near me with holstiens getting them into great weights . Factories are mad for anything as long as it has good fat covers
What is it he best way to go with white heads and Angus heifers from dairy stock. Majority probably Os but have a nice fat cover as getting meal. Go on the grid or agree a flat price.
Great money, well done. I agree re hol mixed with br fr, they are a great combination and lads just don't understand them.
Was the pension book going with them, would be at cow price when hung. No money in them type of cattle.
Fair enough with buying calves but you would want every penny of it to be going in with milk replacer and the amount of feeding they reqiure to bring them to slaughter.
I would not disagree with that. A beef farmer is entitled to a decent margin as well
Think they went to pen 2 which would be heading to Waterford, them old bullocks hang very poorly in the chill and don’t set great not like cows,
USDA says that the national beef cow numbers are the lowest since 1962
that won’t hurt beef prices at all for the next few years
I hate that s"%*^e
It goes on around every ring.
It does and I don’t think it makes much difference at the end of the day either.
There’s always 2 takes on it depending on who you’re talking to. The seller in the box will tell you he didn’t get enough because the dealers aren’t bidding against one another and letting each other have their turn at buying cheap cattle. The farmer out bidding on the same animal will tell you he couldn’t buy it because the dealers all bid against him and drove the price mad because they don’t mind buying an odd dear one to keep him squeezed out and they balance it out over the load!
+1000. I always said that it depends whether you're buying or selling. I know loads of lad's who complain that the "dealer's" (that covers everyone around the ring be they dealer's, agent's, shipper's, feedlot buyer's ect) have everyone stopped and are buying the cattle for half nothing. The same lad's then if they put up there hand to buy something would bend you're ear about the polling they got off the same lad's ringside for the reasons you outlined above.
You're eye is you're judge and you're pocket is you're guide as a local auctioneer is often heard to comment.
I've never stood in it but they seem to run a good show and handle lots of stock. As for the accolade I hear the same about Ennis, Carnaross, Gortatlea, Balla ect depending on what part of the country you're in.
The private owned mart seem to try there best for the seller to keep the business coming as it effects their pocket compared to the lad drawing a wage. We buy cattle there and he treats everyone the same. All get the same few words and has good staff and all the family work in the mart, the wife does the car park and the youngest son is nearly running the place as a teenager.
I was never there myself but I heard that about it too. Fair play to them.
More power to them, it's good to see the hard graft getting results. I agree about the private owned setup being more focused than a co-operative.
Management and the staff in general make a world of difference. There's a mart not far from here and for year's a good lorry would have carried all the cattle in it week to week. There'd be an odd big special sale but the weekly offering was small. The former manager got promoted within the business and a new man took over with a different level of customer relations. There's a decent entry every week now and he's growing the customer base day by day, the previous man argued it couldn't be done for year's beforehand.
I killed a load of below average hex heifers today. Mainly O-, 21-22 months old and all between 3+ and 4= on fat score. The type of ones that were just getting fat on their own.
They’d have only about 150kgs of beet and 40kgs of meal per head ate since they came off a silage only diet 3 weeks ago. They were weighed before going and average live weight was 521kgs. Killouts were from 49 - 52% of liveweight. I had got them in at a flat price of €5.60, they averaged 260.6 kgs dead so €1,459. More than happy with that.
If they were in the mart and assuming a 5% weight loss from travelling and standing around they’d have stood on the scales at 495kgs, I’d have needed €2.95 per kg to match the factory price. Even if there was no weight loss and they weighed the full 521kgs in the mart (which would be impossible) I’d still have had to get €2.80 per kg to match the factory price.
Good prices. wheres the best place to go with cattle like that?
I was offered that price from 2 factories, a Keepak and a Liffey meats.
That's a great price and also a great sign, hopefully it will push on more.
You done very well to get that price, The journal is saying today that o grade bulls are 5.10 and good R grade bull are 5.30. I have also heard that a factory in the midlands pulled prices by 5c this week, Did anyone else hear that ?
Read that myself, a cousin got 5.35 for continental bulls from the dairy herd , they graded no better than my friesians . For the last 10 years ,I've stuck with the one agent and he goes to a dozen different factories so that helps when one place is gone off bulls another takes its place. Fat covers is the difference between a place wanting your bulls or not regardless of grades
I got €5.60 flat price for hex heifers on Monday, I was talking to a man that got €5.65 yesterday in the same factory so there seems to be plenty of appetite for hex anyway.
What Breed of Cattle is most suitable for grazing marginal type land? I was thinking Hereford or Angus x. Would Heifers be more efficient than Bullocks?
Ya HE, AA and SH. The advantage of heifers is that you should be able to finish them easier, you will buy smaller butty bullocks that wl do the same job.
It's kinda immaterial whether its bullocks or heifers if you are selling as stores, however the heifer should be nearer finish than the bullocks and may make a as much/higher price per kg at that stage.
