beef price tracker

bob charles wrote: »

Very few if any farmers would survive on the margin that beef factories make. Only they operate such an efficient business with high turnover and low margin that leaves them money. Efficiencies at farm level are a joke, looking at beef farming as a whole such massive savings could be made. Look inwards and hope things are good outwards as you can affect that. This price fall has being coming for a few weeks now. get used to it.

3.75 is still my view for the back end, as I think market conditions will dictate such a price.

Bob market conditions never dictated price in Ireland it always was supply and always will be. If factories have 1 animal too many they will pull prices. What you are seeing at present is the factories getting a few extra cattle due to the bad weather and useing it to pull prices and they scaremonger at the same time. When you say the price fall has being coming for a few weeks what you mean is that the factories have being cribing about the price they have paid for cattle since early june as normally they woul;d have being pulling prices since then in a normal year as grass cattle come fit.

However this year this has not being an option as the cattle were not there and thrive has been poor during late April and June. The factories are contracting to finishers for the fall at a price that is allowing them to pay 2.5/kg live for store bulls. However they will try if they have too many cattle to use them to pull prices.

My own guess is a base of at least 4 euro right through the year with blips above and below depending on how tight supply is. Below 25k cattle/week above 4 euros and above 25K cattle/week below 4 euros and it may be higher.

huey1975 wrote: »

Well did anyone kill anything this week?
Store cattle appear to be back well in the mart but I was wondering if the factories were successful in pulling them much?

prices paid are back about 5c to 10c in bullocks/bulls. I had no heifers out the gate so don't know about them. Got a boll*cking for killing a few more animals than what I had booked in, as factories hope to buy animals cheaper next week. I consider cattle bought in the last two weeks as value and most of the time bidding only against the auctioneer

bob charles wrote: »

think its time for small sellers to go back to the live ring as some of the prices quoted there are taking the mick

Yeah bob they should go to the mart and get screwed by the likes of you. It would be so much more fulfilling than getting screwed by Larry G! Most finished cattle at the marts get divided up outside by a few select customers and most times the "small seller" goes home with a small cheque and a sore hole!

bob charles wrote: »

huey1975 wrote: »

Yeah bob they should go to the mart and get screwed by the likes of you. It would be so much more fulfilling than getting screwed by Larry G! Most finished cattle at the marts get divided up outside by a few select customers and most times the "small seller" goes home with a small cheque and a sore hole!

yip, thanks for personal insult. Seems you have a very free market off to a T there. Not long ago people were moaning they couldn't buy cattle as the regular buyers were running them into serious prices. Some of you guys can't make up your mind either way. Certainly over the last 6 months cattle sold live have made as much if not more sold live. Remember you don't have to sell your animals at the mart if your not happy with the price. I would like to see the state of play if all the big feeders closed up in the morning. I know who would be rubbing their hands in glee. Also its great the way people think there is such a love feast between regular cattle buyers.

I think I recall a few months back on a thread about Icbf you were very worried that some farmers might find out that you were making a mint from killing their produce after keeping them for a couple of days.

So bob come on and tell us how much per kilo are you getting? Now no more of this " oh 15 cent a kilo less than last week" we all want to know do ye big farmers have contracts guaranteeing 20 cents a kilo more than the base quotes or how can one man buy a beef animal in the mart and pay commission and haulage and make it worth his while and give the seller in the mart more than he would get in the factory?

huey1975 wrote: »

So bob come on and tell us how much per kilo are you getting? Now no more of this " oh 15 cent a kilo less than last week" we all want to know do ye big farmers have contracts guaranteeing 20 cents a kilo more than the base quotes or how can one man buy a beef animal in the mart and pay commission and haulage and make it worth his while and give the seller in the mart more than he would get in the factory?

I wish I had a contract guaranteeing 20 cents above base price, nothing near unfortunately. Taking your figures I would be €65k a year better off if you were buying my animals!!! We work on efficiencies when finishing to try and make our money, trying to buy animals that will give a good lwg and compensatory growth, and not the end price.

dealerman wrote: »

bob your gas you remind me of oliver mc donnell when he was in the farming indo

How do you know I have four sons, two milking 250 cows separately and the younger two boys 7 and 9 rear 800 calves to beef. This week I'm using the later "insert product name here/send the endorsement money on aswell" on my bullocks

okay look at it this way, say the factory pays a base price to a man with 10 animals, a guy with 3 animals is paid base price minus 3c a kilo, a guy with 30 cattle gets base price plus 3c a kilo a guy with 60 gets base plus 6c a kilo. Taking the above as example it probably isn't too far out, but I might be way off the mark. I am buying cattle against guys slaughtering 200 cattle a week, I know well that these boys are getting more than I am and rightly so. This man can afford to outbid me nearly every time if he wants and have the same margin as me. He would also be able to pay a guy with 5 animals more than he would get if the 5 went direct for slaughter. simples-I think. The factory tables in the IFJ are very close to what 99% of guys are making of there animals. There are very few guys slaughtering over 100 animals a week who would be outside this price range.

I keep saying that factories margin isn't all that big, something around 1.7% to 2.3% of turnover, but turnover is massive therefore larry goodman makes allot of money in a low margin business. Kerry once of the most successful Agri business firms in the world tried and failed operating in the beef market in Ireland and many more besides. Guys should concentrate on doing the things they have within their control (LWG etc)and stop worrying about things not within their control (beef price). I know a few guys and all you ever hear from them is they got screwed doing business with from the dentist to the merchant to the vet, everyone has to make a living.

tim04750 wrote: »

So some finishers are buying fat cattle and fat cows to kill within days to loose money two days a week every week ?? Not as shrewd as I had em down for.

you would be surprised, I need €65 between hammer falling on a cow and final slaughter price to break even if slaughtering within a few days. all you need then is to drop the ramp and see a cow down that has to be skipped and thats another week written off.

Lads there are soft sellers and silly buyers in the mart and soft sellers to the factories. At present there are farmers droping cattle into the factory without even asking the price.
If you have one cull cow or a single stock bull you may do better at the mart. Howeve I have seen people sell cattle in the mart that would do better in the factory. However that is not Bob's fault. The reality is that in any mart you go to there are around 20 lads around the ring (trying to) making a living.

How often at a mart have you seen cattle for sale and no sign of the owner. Or the lad that loads up all his calves (maybe straight off the cows) the week after the high prices and is upset when hw fails to get a good price. And next he will tell you it would not pay him to have his own small box that he could be taking them away in 3 or 4's to sell.

I find it hard to complete with finishers however I have learned not to go into the mart and pick out 2-3 bunches of cattle get screwed buying them and tell someone that ''that is the price of them anyway''. If I cannot see the chance of a profit I will be slow to buy.

Yes most finishers depending on there size will get 6-10 cent when prices are strong and the very big operator will get a contract price. However they will also buy there finishing ration 20-50 euro's/ton better than you or me.With a bull killing 400kgs this is worth between 50-90 euro's between feeding and price and also he may have access to beet or be able to handle bread meal/buiscuit meal.

I heard of a lad that was processing a lot of spuds and vegetables for resturants/catering contractors, he had a lot of potato's/veg peelings and rejects, he had two pens of bulls all year around.

Also most finishers will get discounts from vets, buy there animal medicines in advance ( not get caught the morning of the test and rush to the co-op for a bottle of ivermectin).

Like bob says there are thing in our control use them

locha wrote: »

Thread seems to have got a little away from the actual pricing but interesting nonetheless. Ended up getting 410 for R's and 400 for O's - all steers. Interesting to see how the next few weeks pan out. Last Monday carnaross was back at least 100 a head for 550kg +... there were no farmers there and the boys were diviying them up as they wanted...

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