No one from the factory either looked at my stock or asked how square they were so if they were O- the price would have still been the same.
€5.40 was the price being quoted the week before Christmas, you were the only one that mentioned €5.50 when on your rant, and that was for Angus. Hex would be 10 cent behind Angus so they’d have been €5.30 the same week. If I had Angus to go this week they’d have been €5.65.
If I’d moved last week there was one factory where I’d have got €5.60 for the hex or €5.70 for Angus but they pulled their price back this week to match the rest.
Anyway I’ve proved my point, and the point of all the other posters you were berating too, so I’m leaving it at that now. Best of luck with any more you have to kill in the future.
My neighbour got 5.40 flat on 19 December for AAX bullocks.
DBK1 got 5.55 flat for HEX on the 24 January.
That's effectively 25 cent of an increase in the 5 weeks which is exactly the same as my spreadsheet of the base prices quoted from the IFA website on Wednesdays for my regular factory.
Thanks for being open and honest about what can be attained from factories. The information is greatly appreciated for someone like me fattening a out 40-50 cattle a year.
Find kepak if you deal with them regularly they get to know your type of cattle and will deal no problems directly, no problem getting a flat price for a long number of years, well done with your cattle with great performance for there age,
You done very well, is it all heifers you buy? What kind of a price do you think hex and aax heifer Calfs will make this year?
Where in the country are you getting these 5.40-5.55 rates? If I'm reading that right that's over 30c /kg more than what I'm getting for my AAX bullocks.
These are flat prices.
Base price seems to be 5.20 this week for bullocks. So, if using grid price, a bord bia AAX, grading O+, would get 5.48, if 20 cent AA bonus. Maybe even more.
So, I reckon 5.55 would be the flat price this week.
5.10 and 5.15 is all I can get for bullocks and heifers this week from two different factories. Both telling me there is good numbers coming out. I am sure there is a lot of factory talk there. No flat prices available. From what I am seen in what I have gone so far and chatting neighbors that cattle are killing out lighter this year. Has anyone else experienced the same??
Oh they are lighter... IMHO if u weren't in a hurry to kill let them factories off on their tangent.
UK cattle moved up a notch this week that's the barometer not some procurement manager who's being told to hold tight.
They tried the same trick this time last year or maybe toward the end of February. Dropped the price for a week to see if they could cause panic, they were back up the following week.
They ways seem to do in in the run up to 4 day weeks, its a stalling tactic
You are on the money. I just checked my trusty spreadsheet. Bullocks hit a base price of 5.25 on 1 Feb 2023. Stayed at that for 3 weeks. They dropped 5 cent in the last week of Feb 23. Stayed at that price for all of March 23. Up 5 cent again then to 5.25, where they stayed until early May 23.
They started dropping then, all the way down to 4.60 in late August 23.
In relation to price this week, yes, they do seem to be back alright. And the famous flat price seems to have vanished for now. So, do farmers hold tight and see are the factories bluffing, or do they do what they always tend to do, and start selling under finished cattle, in a bit of a panic, cos 'prices are dropping'. Time will tell.
4 day week is helpful for factories this week but the kill is higher than this time last year , so the ball is in their court at the moment. I've fr bulls ready to go and the price isn't moving so I'll get some away, probably a lot more like me at this stage.
I genuinely don't think there's enough cattle in the system for a number of reasons. The farmer winter finisher is a thing of the past coupled with the cost of meal/silage. People put cattle in sheds last autumn with the sole intention of storing them. Live exports for the last couple of years have been strong.
Around the midlands flat prices are harder got now and where they are available they’re back 15-20 cent for the smaller seller.
Base price is only back 5 cent though and if you push hard there’s an extra 5 cent to be got from the hex or aax bonus so anyone with a mix of O= to R- grade hex or aax will still be averaging around the €5.50-€5.55 that the flat prices were achieving the past few weeks.
The poorer quality O- to O=/O+ loads will be taking a hit this week alright.
I’ve nothing ready at the minute it’ll be a month but if I see the agents number coming up on the phone this week to warn me that they are falling I’ll know they’ll rise in a week or so.
Agree with you also if you notice in the marts for the last few weeks their have been big numbers of cows in particular the vast majority are going to the factory which puts the factory in control for last week and this week but this supply will dry up by next week as dairy farmers clear out surplus cattle every year in late jan/early feb
Prices are unlikley to collapse. You would be crazy to sell underfinished cattle especially if they were fairly efficient to feed. Factories are waiting for cattle to start coming out of sheds as they hit 100 days feeding there feed efficiency declines.
Price will be decided by what contracts processors have in place. Unless they are over committed to contracts they will hold prices. Its unlikely that they will pull too hard, however if they taught 10-15c/kg pull would flush out cattle they will do that
I hope you are right, but I am a little optimistic on it. I know several people near me that will have stock fit over the next few weeks. Plenty of cattle to come out I'd say over the next month or so, and if not the factory will always pay what they want not what they are worth. Also worth noting supermarkets both here and across Europe are starting to drop prices for the consumer so that may influence prices too. Thankfully cattle this winter have been Abit cheaper to keep than last winter with the cut in meal, fertilizer, diesel prices etc.
Saw cows selling today granted very well fed and good cows but you’d want to be getting 5:50 a kg for them to go to a factory so I’d presume this price pull is just factories doing what they normally do and messing with farmers and one thing for certain in another few weeks all the dairy man’s cattle will be gone so dig deep this is only a blip
There was literally a handful of bullocks in Thurles last week fit to kill. Can't vouch for the heifer or cow ring.
Yeah was at a few Marts in the last week hardly any strong bullocks or heifers and thst ain’t going to change
Killed a simmental heifer last week. She was 33mths old, graded R= 3+. Got €5.10/kg for her. Thought it a poor price but no point crying about it now. I didn't get to speak to agent before hand. Had to move heifer very quick as she was becoming a real problem in pin.
Any excuse to cut you for overage stock. Obviously not a bad animal as she grades well.
Had a few in myself this week, mixture of bullocks and heifers all O grades from the dairy sector. Averaged €5.30/kg ish out of the cheque. Think I was €5.55 flat price this time last year so a fair difference. Couldn't get a flat price this year from the two places I deal with.
So would you be expecting cows to get a bit of a rise in march when this glut of cows clears?
Probably as their has been a huge amount of cows sold since Oct and for the first 6 weeks of this year a lot of marts have had record numbers of cows sold with the vast majority going to the factory that supply will have to reduce shortly
Unfortunately the processors have used the cows to keep the price down. Will the prices increase in the coming weeks?? I am very much sceptical. Cattle will start coming out from sheds from now on thus allowing the processors to keep prices down unfortunately.
Agree the cow supply has undermined the prime cattle price but we'll remain hopeful that when the cow supply reduce that their might not be enough young fed cattle to make up the defecit
Have a dozen HEX QA bullocks going to Larry next week...
What price should I be looking for...
5.15 base....20c Breed Bonus?
Larry usually only pays 10c bonus on HE cattle. Not sure if the base is that high but have not sold cattle in over a month
