Beef price tracker 2

Bass Reeves · 10-03-2021 8:46pm

Jjameson wrote: »

Define “price to retail”?
taking 1300 of the example as 80% of it correct!
Duh me!
Butchers work roughly on the basis of 1€ kg deadweight for freezer or box sale beef. But have to deliver and pay to dispose of offal that large processors actually profit on.

But these are all gross figures of course.

This is the price that the processor's are admitting to receiving from retail( supermarkets restaurants catering etc).

1300 is 80% of the price received according MII
That 80% of the price of processor's recieve so the other 20% is 25% of that or 325 euro.

When you add in scale and s large portion is sold in bulk or the amount that is machine processed such as the McDonald's contract for burgers. As well you have off book sales. We for instance some processor's have UK companies that take the beef and retail it. I imagine that these deal with specialist contracts such as to meat going into Hospital, Schools or prisons.

But just taking the raw figure's did we have an average kill of 34k/weeks last year???. That 1.768 million cattle. Assuming an average of 1200 accross heifers, bulls bullocks, cows etc I think that would be a low ball figure. At 300/ head that is 540 million euro.

And that is what they are willing to admit to.

Danzy · 10-03-2021 9:42pm

wrangler wrote: »

They should've known it'd be a waste of time, begrudgers were happy enough to criticise IFA and jim Power for not being able to do it and now they've come up with the same result.
To be fooled twice is utter stupidity

It's not all about the IFA.

Bass Reeves · 10-03-2021 9:50pm

Danzy wrote: »

It's not all about the IFA.

But sure we alway have to get back to that and about begrudgery

kk.man · 10-03-2021 9:57pm

Danzy wrote: »

It's not all about the IFA.

Correct. Any decent analysis or analytical firm would never produce figures that are screwed because of poor data. If their reports were scrutinised after they would never be employed again. That's why Jim Power and Grant T can't come to the conclusions we are asking of them.

The real cloak and dagger stuff that does the Mll no good is the uniformity of price across the 26 counties of Ireland for so many different factories and like we had a few weeks back the uniform collapse of same. I am no Einstein but something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

lalababa · 10-03-2021 11:02pm

Water John wrote: »

Doesn't matter to the farmer the divvy between the processor and the retailer. Down fall down that rabbit hole.
Do we look at the BB heifer again:
BB Heifer

fillet.............5kg
sirloin........14.2kg
rump.........12.6kg
fore rib......15.3kg
brisket.......17.9kg
chuck........32.5kg
topside......22.2kg
silverside..30.9kg
braising......8.9kg
stewing.....20.8kg
mince........51.7kg
...............232kg

Priced out the farmer gets just over €5/kg. Anyone want to price the cuts?

Really need a butcher to price the cuts,
Fillet......30
Sirloin....15
Rump.....10?
Fore rib...25?
Brisket....20?
Chuck.....18?
Topside..20?
Silverside...10
Braising.....10
Stewing.....10
Mince.......7
Total circa...3200??
....13.70/kg

Good loser · 10-03-2021 11:41pm

kk.man wrote: »

Correct. Any decent analysis or analytical firm would never produce figures that are screwed because of poor data. If their reports were scrutinised after they would never be employed again. That's why Jim Power and Grant T can't come to the conclusions we are asking of them.

The real cloak and dagger stuff that does the Mll no good is the uniformity of price across the 26 counties of Ireland for so many different factories and like we had a few weeks back the uniform collapse of same. I am no Einstein but something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

On and on ad infinitum the conspiracy theories multiply and feed one another.
Remember the one about Simon Coveney being married to Goodman's niece and hence the Govt was in cahoots with the factory owners. Such rubbish!
When that's debunked there are plenty more to replenish the stock.
Conspiracy theories are the signs of weak minds - consider Mr Trump and 40 million Americans.
Or consider our very own sheep industry. 6 factories quoted in the IFJ including the big 2 (or 3) in the beef game. Last weeks price increased by another 20c to 30c per kg on the previous week to record highs of €7 per kg.
How do the theorists explain these numbers?
Did the factories conspire (all together) to increase prices to record levels? To give more money to their suppliers - because they needed it, because they deserved it, because they liked them that bit more.

Boys and girls morality doesn't come into it.
But market forces do.

lalababa · 10-03-2021 11:46pm

Why are mutton prices going through the roof? Is it Brexit? Yet beef is still at or below cost of production.
??

White Clover · 10-03-2021 11:53pm

Good loser wrote: »

On and on ad infinitum the conspiracy theories multiply and feed one another.
Remember the one about Simon Coveney being married to Goodman's niece and hence the Govt was in cahoots with the factory owners. Such rubbish!
When that's debunked there are plenty more to replenish the stock.
Conspiracy theories are the signs of weak minds - consider Mr Trump and 40 million Americans.
Or consider our very own sheep industry. 6 factories quoted in the IFJ including the big 2 (or 3) in the beef game. Last weeks price increased by another 20c to 30c per kg on the previous week to record highs of €7 per kg.
How do the theorists explain these numbers?
Did the factories conspire (all together) to increase prices to record levels? To give more money to their suppliers - because they needed it, because they deserved it, because they liked them that bit more.

Boys and girls morality doesn't come into it.
But market forces do.

The factories don't have feedlots of lambs themselves, yet. What it tells is how they have used British lamb to beat down prices in years gone by. They can't get them this year, did you notice that?
A bit like the way if they were short 20 cattle for tomorrow's kill, they'd cancel my 10 cattle with the poor mouth of no demand and offer 5c less for next week, and then land on a double of 30 from one of their own feedlots.

kk.man · 10-03-2021 11:58pm

Good loser wrote: »

On and on ad infinitum the conspiracy theories multiply and feed one another.
Remember the one about Simon Coveney being married to Goodman's niece and hence the Govt was in cahoots with the factory owners. Such rubbish!
When that's debunked there are plenty more to replenish the stock.
Conspiracy theories are the signs of weak minds - consider Mr Trump and 40 million Americans.
Or consider our very own sheep industry. 6 factories quoted in the IFJ including the big 2 (or 3) in the beef game. Last weeks price increased by another 20c to 30c per kg on the previous week to record highs of €7 per kg.
How do the theorists explain these numbers?
Did the factories conspire (all together) to increase prices to record levels? To give more money to their suppliers - because they needed it, because they deserved it, because they liked them that bit more.

Boys and girls morality doesn't come into it.
But market forces do.

I never bought into the Simon Coveney allegation and even if it was true I doubt it was having any bearing on the beef price. I also don't do Trump or any nacarist for that matter.

Market forces do out weigh the processors when there is a market force ie demand is very strong. We are a small country at the edge of the EU with 5 mil ppl killing 5 mill cattle at the mercy of export markets. These cattle kills are controled by 3 big processors and the price they pay for cattle is uniform among themselves and there smaller competitors bar 5c here or there. Sheep are very scarse all over Europe no aussies or kiwis fighting for shelf space. No imports from the UK to our factories because of a little issue called Brexit.

In conclusion we are producing too much cattle but our main markets we supply are paying way more to their domestic suppliers than us. Two hundred euro is very wrong. If that was to translate to shelf price the domestic product would be displaced within days and the farmer suppliers would see a collapse in price.

That's not conspiracy theory, it's fact.

White Clover · 11-03-2021 12:06am

lalababa wrote: »

Why are mutton prices going through the roof? Is it Brexit? Yet beef is still at or below cost of production.
??

At this point in time, the factories don't control the supply of lamb. They don't have feedlots and the loss of British lamb is forcing them to pay. Its the market working, ie supply and demand.

With beef, the factories have control of supply through their own feedlots and contracted farmers that they have bankrupted previously are feeding for them for a wage. It is market control and manipulation.

charolais0153 · 11-03-2021 12:19am

White Clover wrote: »

With beef, the factories have control of supply through their own feedlots and contracted farmers that they have bankrupted previously are feeding for them for a wage. It is market control and manipulation.

How many on this forum have got out of finishing cattle ? Do the factory's control bass reeves jjameson or kkman or yourself, simple answer is no , they own a small proportion of the kill and the same people supply the rest . Too much supply .

Good loser · 11-03-2021 12:20am

White Clover wrote: »

The factories don't have feedlots of lambs themselves, yet. What it tells is how they have used British lamb to beat down prices in years gone by. They can't get them this year, did you notice that?
A bit like the way if they were short 20 cattle for tomorrow's kill, they'd cancel my 10 cattle with the poor mouth of no demand and offer 5c less for next week, and then land on a double of 30 from one of their own feedlots.

Wasn't importing lambs from UK market forces working through.
Just as pig farmers send many pigs north every week. Suits both parties - that's how a market works.
Your example of a trading transaction is irrelevant. Every load of cattle has a story attached. Remember buying stock for feedlots supports/increases the price of stores.
Just think how the calf market works. Same difference to beef market.

Bass Reeves · 11-03-2021 12:22am

For the last twenty years we were fed a tale. The story was that a kill that was equal all year long would lead to higher paying markets and that farmers would benefit from this. As well we were told that consolidation if the industry would also see benefits passed on to farmers. When dairy expansion happened the processor's told everyone that they could handle a kill of 40k cattle/week.

We are now left with a beef price that is a 50-70c/kg below production for winter beef

Danzy · 11-03-2021 12:28am

The Irish economy and society would be better off if the beef industry here had collapsed.

The damage to the wider economy, the criminality and corruption brought into politics here, cost much more than the industry is worth.

White Clover · 11-03-2021 12:32am

charolais0153 wrote: »

How many on this forum have got out of finishing cattle ? Do the factory's control bass reeves jjameson or kkman or yourself, simple answer is no , they own a small proportion of the kill and the same people supply the rest . Too much supply .

I haven't killed cattle since last year.
They own a proportion of the kill that is significant enough to manipulate the market. Their agents are admitting what is going on.

Good loser · 11-03-2021 12:34am

White Clover wrote: »

At this point in time, the factories don't control the supply of lamb. They don't have feedlots and the loss of British lamb is forcing them to pay. Its the market working, ie supply and demand.

With beef, the factories have control of supply through their own feedlots and contracted farmers that they have bankrupted previously are feeding for them for a wage. It is market control and manipulation.

Feedlots are all to the advantage of store producers - demand is increased and thus prices are higher than they might otherwise be. Factories are not all knowing; they can mis-judge markets. Aren't store producers as entitled to a market price just like beef producers? No beef man/woman needs to send stock to a factory - see Anto above.
Prices increases last week (and this week) because of increased demand in UK.
Market forces.

kk.man · 11-03-2021 12:44am

Danzy wrote: »

The Irish economy and society would be better off if the beef industry here had collapsed.

The damage to the wider economy, the criminality and corruption brought into politics here, cost much more than the industry is worth.

Unfortunately the beef business world wide is corrupt and always have been.

As a wise man said to me once name a multi millionaire who made his 1st million straight.

White Clover · 11-03-2021 12:45am

Good loser wrote: »

Wasn't importing lambs from UK market forces working through.
Just as pig farmers send many pigs north every week. Suits both parties - that's how a market works.
Your example of a trading transaction is irrelevant. Every load of cattle has a story attached. Remember buying stock for feedlots supports/increases the price of stores.
Just think how the calf market works. Same difference to beef market.

The purchase and transport of lambs from Britain that cost significantly more than local lamb was done to keep prices down. To believe anything else is beyond comprehension.
My example of a trading transaction is a strategy, it is far from irrelevant.
How do you come to the conclusion that the factories have increased the price farmers get for selling stores?

Good loser · 11-03-2021 12:48am

Bass Reeves wrote: »

For the last twenty years we were fed a tale. The story was that a kill that was equal all year long would lead to higher paying markets and that farmers would benefit from this. As well we were told that consolidation if the industry would also see benefits passed on to farmers. When dairy expansion happened the processor's told everyone that they could handle a kill of 40k cattle/week.

We are now left with a beef price that is a 50-70c/kg below production for winter beef

We're not infants.
Who's 'we' and who's 'they'.
Everyone must make their own calls, believe and disbelieve as their judgement informs.
Just watch the market.
I will be very very interested in two year's time (DV) as to whether beef prices will be more or less than €3.50/kg - when my €50 calves come fit.
My guess is less.

Danzy · 11-03-2021 12:50am

kk.man wrote: »

Unfortunately the beef business world wide is corrupt and always have been.

As a wise man said to me once name a multi millionaire who made his 1st million straight.

I know a few, there are levels of corruption though. Beef is on a senior tier.

Is it such a pronounced negative influence across the world though.

Here it has been a repeated threat to the wider economy, law and the rule of law.

kk.man · 11-03-2021 1:02am

Danzy wrote: »

I know a few, there are levels of corruption though. Beef is on a senior tier.

Is it such a pronounced negative influence across the world though.

Here it has been a repeated threat to the wider economy, law and the rule of law.

Why would it be a threat?.. We are a nation of winking and nodding. Even praising the guy who did wrong no not praising but pointing out his good side. Its not all the big guys either I could name dozens of farmers within a twenty miles who used angel dust back in the day and they would not be seen by society as 'corrupt'.

wrangler · 11-03-2021 10:47am

Bass Reeves wrote: »

But sure we alway have to get back to that and about begrudgery

Processors margins are really no ones business but their own, it's futile for some farmers to carry on the way they do. They're actually making it less likely to get a price rise.
Processors are no worse than the civil servants, they take advantage of a poor system. and yes the whole thing stinks of begrudgery

wrangler · 11-03-2021 11:52am

Jjameson wrote: »

The antagonist rises from his slumber.
Poor systems allow certain types of characters to flourish. Narcissists, sociopaths and psychopaths.
Give them an inch and they take a mile but people have to stand when certain lines are crossed mile has to be taken off them at some point or chaos ensues..

Pat Smith!

There's a lot of antagonists on here, making statements that they can't prove.
The market sets the price, price won't change while the supply is there, it has no reason to.
I walked away from IFA when Beef price became a joke, and when you did mention Pat Smith, what about the (democratically elected by farmer reprentatives) national Treasurers of that Era. Where was there heads when they were signing Pats' cheques They were farmers, are they any different or better than the processors. There's plenty of your ''certain types of characters'' farming as well

manjou · 11-03-2021 12:06pm

Wrangler is right in so far as processors margins are their buisness. They are able to raise and lower price because they can. If they wanted to drop price to 0 they could. We are the ones who produce the cattle and should do something about it. If everyone reduced numbers and had alot less cattle on farms by less sucklers and buying less sucks etc. As for difference between value of beef bought and sold there is where the real skulduggery could be going on as is the difference a healthy margin or cheaper beef imports being sold as irish and pushing vslue of beef exports up.

Jb1989 · 11-03-2021 12:08pm

manjou wrote: »

Wrangler is right in so far as processors margins are their buisness. They are able to raise and lower price because they can. If they wanted to drop price to 0 they could. We are the ones who produce the cattle and should do something about it. If everyone reduced numbers and had alot less cattle on farms by less sucklers and buying less sucks etc. As for difference between value of beef bought and sold there is where the real skulduggery could be going on as is the difference a healthy margin or cheaper beef imports being sold as irish and pushing vslue of beef exports up.

Exactly, till people do as you've said, the pointless to and fro on beef prices will continue.

Robson99 · 11-03-2021 12:24pm

Jb1989 wrote: »

Exactly, till people do as you've said, the pointless to and fro on beef prices will continue.

It won't matter if the numbers are reduced or not. When you have a Cartel controlling the price supply is irrelevant

leoch · 11-03-2021 12:38pm

Robson99 wrote: »

It won't matter if the numbers are reduced or not. When you have a Cartel controlling the price supply is irrelevant

Yea ur right Robson and the cartel have the backing of our government and the farmers don't ,simple as that.....so farmers will never win this argument ....

lalababa · 11-03-2021 2:37pm

Like wrangler said.... paraphrasing.... don't load your cattle till the price is right for you....but there are too many busy fools I'm afraid.

richie123 · 11-03-2021 3:22pm

Robson99 wrote: »

It won't matter if the numbers are reduced or not. When you have a Cartel controlling the price supply is irrelevant

Thats rubbish ...the sheer demand for lambs is creating an excellent price.
It would be the exact same for beef if the same conditions arose.

Jb1989 · 11-03-2021 4:56pm

richie123 wrote: »

Thats rubbish ...the sheer demand for lambs is creating an excellent price.
It would be the exact same for beef if the same conditions arose.

The only reason a cartel is there because of the cattle.
No cattle, no cartel.

Anto_Meath · 11-03-2021 5:30pm

The last thing the cartel will do is rise the base price, like we see pre Christmas, instead of rising the base price they bought anything with flesh in the marts at prices far exceeding with they would kill out at the base prices offered, this was really evident with AAx & Hex cross cattle, they were making well in excess of €4/ kg in the marts. I am believer that farmers should not be afraid to show factory fit cattle in the mart, especially with the on line marts, where Northern Ireland factories are actively buying cattle. Its one way we can have a little control and create a little competition for beef.

wrangler · 11-03-2021 6:21pm

Jb1989 wrote: »

The only reason a cartel is there because of the cattle.
No cattle, no cartel.

Agreed, I wouldn't think there's a cartel in the sheep trade now

richie123 · 11-03-2021 9:32pm

wrangler wrote: »

Agreed, I wouldn't think there's a cartel in the sheep trade now

Same story again lads I'm tired of listening to it.
Blame everyone and everything else
Too many cattle in the country, its that simple.
Theres no big conspiracy.
Supply and demand.fools willing to fatten year after year after year and fling chape cattle and big Larry laughing at them.
Only ourselves to blame.

kk.man · 12-03-2021 12:30am

Did anyone hear of the famous "barn meeting"?

I am not going to elaborate anymore than the above question. If ye did well and good if ye didn't than so be it.

12-03-2021 11:45am

lalababa wrote: »

Like wrangler said.... paraphrasing.... don't load your cattle till the price is right for you....but there are too many busy fools I'm afraid.

Do you and wrangler set your own prices ?

DBK1 · 12-03-2021 12:03pm

lalababa wrote: »

Like wrangler said.... paraphrasing.... don't load your cattle till the price is right for you....but there are too many busy fools I'm afraid.

Unfortunately in the beef game it’s not as simple as that.

I agree with a lot of what you’re saying and farmers are our own worst enemy’s in a lot of ways. But you can’t just decide not to kill your cattle if they’re fit to kill as the odds are stacked against you then.

Maybe with friesian’s or other hard to fatten breeds you will get away with it for a few weeks but the continental and more traditional beef breeds you can’t. They will be deemed either over age, over fat or over weight (or possibly all of the above) and you will get slaughtered altogether on price then.

wrangler · 12-03-2021 12:28pm

1373 wrote: »

Do you and wrangler set your own prices ?

I just stopped farming cattle, not much sense in doing the same thing every year and expecting a different result.

charolais0153 · 12-03-2021 12:56pm

DBK1 wrote: »

Unfortunately in the beef game it’s not as simple as that.

I agree with a lot of what you’re saying and farmers are our own worst enemy’s in a lot of ways. But you can’t just decide not to kill your cattle if they’re fit to kill as the odds are stacked against you then.

Maybe with friesian’s or other hard to fatten breeds you will get away with it for a few weeks but the continental and more traditional beef breeds you can’t. They will be deemed either over age, over fat or over weight (or possibly all of the above) and you will get slaughtered altogether on price then.

Well don't buy replacements until you are happy with price

amacca · 12-03-2021 2:41pm

DBK1 wrote: »

Unfortunately in the beef game it’s not as simple as that.

I agree with a lot of what you’re saying and farmers are our own worst enemy’s in a lot of ways. But you can’t just decide not to kill your cattle if they’re fit to kill as the odds are stacked against you then.

Maybe with friesian’s or other hard to fatten breeds you will get away with it for a few weeks but the continental and more traditional beef breeds you can’t. They will be deemed either over age, over fat or over weight (or possibly all of the above) and you will get slaughtered altogether on price then.

For me the biggest impediment is the 30/36 month malarkey....id stock less here and hold away happily if they didn't have that lever to force you into turning over numbers. Too many factors in favour of the other side.

lalababa · 12-03-2021 3:04pm

1373 wrote: »

Do you and wrangler set your own prices ?

If you are losing 50 euros a head on 100 cattle... Then cut your numbers to the stocking minimum. If more cut their numbers cattle would become scarce.

kk.man · 12-03-2021 9:54pm

lalababa wrote: »

If you are losing 50 euros a head on 100 cattle... Then cut your numbers to the stocking minimum. If more cut their numbers cattle would become scarce.

A big problem is dairy cross cattle in the system. If the suckler bred animal and the dairy cull cows were only available to the factories beef would be a good price. This diary expansion has come at a cost to the beef farmer.

Water John · 12-03-2021 9:57pm

kk.man wrote: »

The big problem is dairy cross cattle in the system. If the suckler bred animal and the dairy cull cows available to the factories beef would be a good price. This diary expansion has come at a cost to the beef farmer.

If a good animal was available from the dairy herd, then the suckler herd would be naturally reduced. Much easier to rear stores than managing suckler cows.

Hard Knocks · 12-03-2021 10:03pm

Water John wrote: »

If a good animal was available from the dairy herd, then the suckler herd would be naturally reduced. Much easier to rear stores than managing suckler cows.

Don’t know about that
When things go right in suckling there’s little to do
It’s when it goes wrong you’re in bother
Lots of work to rearing calves

Water John · 12-03-2021 10:12pm

Main problem is, so much of the land is tied up feeding the cow. If you had a good supply of calves, how many could your farm carry either to 500kg or to finish, in comparison? If the number was above 40, I would say an auto feeder would be justified.
Calves and yearlings, you'd carry a lot of stock, esp if sold before the second winter.

Cavanjack · 12-03-2021 10:36pm

kk.man wrote: »

A big problem is dairy cross cattle in the system. If the suckler bred animal and the dairy cull cows were only available to the factories beef would be a good price. This diary expansion has come at a cost to the beef farmer.

Yet lads are tripping over themselves to buy calves every spring. You’d think the supply was going to dry up.

kk.man · 12-03-2021 10:38pm

Cavanjack wrote: »

Yet lads are tripping over themselves to buy calves every spring. You’d think the supply was going to dry up.

And teagasc is pushing the merigoround.

wrangler · 12-03-2021 10:42pm

Water John wrote: »

Main problem is, so much of the land is tied up feeding the cow. If you had a good supply of calves, how many could your farm carry either to 500kg or to finish, in comparison? If the number was above 40, I would say an auto feeder would be justified.
Calves and yearlings, you'd carry a lot of stock, esp if sold before the second winter.

The big advantage I saw with sheep was my income depended on how good my management was, All I ever bought was one or two rams/year
Anytime you go out to buy stock you have to pay more than their value. calves aren't worth what they're making by the time it's all added up.
Granted there is guys doing well in beef farming through not only good management but also careful buying and selling but they're few and far between

Bass Reeves · 12-03-2021 11:30pm

kk.man wrote: »

A big problem is dairy cross cattle in the system. If the suckler bred animal and the dairy cull cows were only available to the factories beef would be a good price. This diary expansion has come at a cost to the beef farmer.

The problem is not dairy cross cattle the problem is lads willing to work for nothing. This is very applicable to sucklers. Dairy cross cattle will always be there. They are a byproduct of the industry. Even in the indoor feedlot dairy systems calves are born.

I can understand a lad stocking at a low rate to draw payments whether it is sucklers or dairy stock. What I cannot understand is lads pushing numbers to either make a very small profit or no margin at all.

The reason dairy expansion has come at the expense of beef farmers is partly due to the fault of those same farmers. Look at this year we have more dairy calves than ever, we have exports down by 20%, cows are calving earlier and lads are paying more for calves and they must be buying more if them. While calf slaughter numbers are slightly ahead of last year it a drop in the ocean compared to calves produced.

The worst part is even though rations are more expensive than ever before lads cannot pour enough down the throat's of cattle.

Water John wrote: »

If a good animal was available from the dairy herd, then the suckler herd would be naturally reduced. Much easier to rear stores than managing suckler cows.

I am not sure, too many lads are waiting for a destocking scheme. As well for some reason a lot of suckled farmers are bad around the ring . If they change from sucklers they still hark after suckled bred cattle, feeding ration or breeding heifers.

Water John wrote: »

Main problem is, so much of the land is tied up feeding the cow. If you had a good supply of calves, how many could your farm carry either to 500kg or to finish, in comparison? If the number was above 40, I would say an auto feeder would be justified.
Calves and yearlings, you'd carry a lot of stock, esp if sold before the second winter.

It not just the land tied up feeding cows its also so many different groups of cattle on the farm. Culls that need to be kept away from the bull, having to split weanling heifers and bulls if calves are born early in the year. If buying replacement heifers for bulling keeping them away from your nature bull if he is a hard calved. Therefore you get no economies of scale and its hard to run a paddock system.

I am running a store to beef system and manage a unit per acre. It would be Good going to get cattle to 500 kgs. A lot of suckled systems fail to manage that across the board by the end of the second summer. Calf to store you would carry a unit per acre handy and maybe carry a few for early slaughter the following summer as well.

Cavanjack wrote: »

Yet lads are tripping over themselves to buy calves every spring. You’d think the supply was going to dry up.

Ya I cannot fathom it this year 100k more calves so far I think, 20% less exported and calf slaughter numbers only running 2-3k ahead of last year. Next year and the year after will be right sh!t shows.

morphy87 · 12-03-2021 11:42pm

Talking to a man yesterday he sells feed for a company and finishes a lot of cattle off the grass,he told me he gave up winter finishing 3 years ago he was making nothing, he still finishes a lot of cattle off the grass, stuffing cattle with meal doesn’t add up he said

wrangler · 12-03-2021 11:47pm

kk.man wrote: »

And teagasc is pushing the merigoround.

Well they're saying calves are overpriced, That's not encouraging farmers is it

https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/what-are-dairy-bull-calves-worth-now-based-on-current-beef-prices/

Beef price tracker 2

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