Beef price tracker 2

The danger for beef farmers Is pressure on costs will increase. The contractors, vets agri merchants, feed merchants etc will all increase prices. Any subsequent price drop then may put you back to behind where you were. The risk is especially acute for suckler farmers where they have nobody to pass any of a loss back onto.

The finisher will drop his price to the store producer, the store producer back to the weanling/calf breeder.

In general finishers will be little better off as we take a margin and must replace to stay in the business unless we decide to exit the business and that carries risk as well.

I fully agree with what you’re saying, you can already see things are creeping up. Trying to buy back stores to replace the ones you sell won’t be easy. At the moment with beef prices going well the calf to beef system is looking like the best,I’m lucky enough I have purchased Calfs the past two years so I have to buy back less than half the stores that I would usually have to buy in October. Calfs haven’t risen to the exstent of beef or store prices.

Worse case scenario what do you think that they could drop back to in maybe a year or two? Or in the Autumn

Worst outcome would be a few of the smaller meat processor will not be able to compete & go out of business ( you know the lads who take out of spec cattle or only killing a few 100 a week) then we will be left with 4 or 5 processors and they will have totally control. They will stick the boot in only doing deals with some supplies and the whole thing ends up going like the chicken & pig meat market..

True. You would be worried sending stock to the small processor now.

And worse than that maybe tied into a contract negotiated 6 months ago. Heard that one of the Lidl and Aldi contracts are due for renewal in April

And what do aldi or Lidl do? Where can you purchase beef elsewhere and I don’t see to much of it left on the shelves

Might stretch to 12 before the dangerous descent.

ALDI & LIDL will bring it in from South America and then sell if of as Ballydehob Irish beef to try and fool the people & good old Larry will probably help them if the is a twist in it for him....

Heard similar tonight. Lads aren’t settling for €8 and numbers are to get tight as we head into April.

have a few cull cows I'm fattening was thinking of selling them in a about 2-3 weeks but do you think I should hold on for a little longer? I have no issue with slurry tanks are empty and lots of good silage so could easily hold on to them with no issues, would just need another tonne of feed.

Everything is starting at €8, I was talking to an agent that was told bid €8 flat for fresisans and whatever you do don’t leave them behind, and all sort of deals are been done he said

Don’t think anyone could predict when the peak will be and there is no point thinking anyone will know. I was talking to a man last week that kills a lot of good continental cattle. He got €7.50 for 20 cattle. Had he waited till this week he’d have got €8. He is roughly €4500 worse off for the sake of a week.
I’m in the same boat only for a larger amount of cattle. Will I wait now for €8.50, €9 or more. Or will I wait too long for them to drop.

If anyone has a number for an agent in North Kilkenny can they PM me.

Can hurt to shop around.

And when they reach their peak will they hold at that do you think?

And if they drop how fast will the drop be?