Did you ever play the game blink as a child? Two people stare directly into each other’s eyes and the first person to blink loses. I was never very good at it.

Factory agents, on the other hand, have it down to an art. The beef trade is a case of who blinks first this week.

Farmers who didn’t blink two weeks ago when factories tried their best to drop quotes are better off this week, with quotes back up again.

Bullocks are generally working off the same price as last week, with €7.50/kg base price being paid in most outlets.

Heifers are also working off a similar quote to last week, coming in at €7.60/kg, but base prices of €7.70/kg to €7.80/kg have also been paid this week for mixes of heifers and bullocks.

While flat prices are still a little harder to come by, they are still available and farmers who are holding out for them are being rewarded.

Flat prices of as high as €8.20/kg for Aberdeen Angus heifers have been paid out this week, while flat prices of €7.60/kg to €7.70/kg have been paid for Friesian bullocks.

Cows

U grading cows continue to work off a quote of €7.50/kg, with more going to those with numbers.

R grading cows are generally trading at €7.30/kg to €7.40/kg, while O grading cows are coming in around €7.00/kg to €7.20/kg.

There is a big range in quotes for P grading cows, with those with numbers able to bargain more and up to €7.00/kg to €7.10/kg being paid where numbers are involved.

Fleshed cows are still making big money in marts, with supplies of cows also now getting very low in marts. Flesh is important though and cows lacking flesh will be discounted.

Bulls are also in demand, with up to €7.80/kg still available at the top end for U grading bulls, working back to €7.30/kg to €7.40/kg for O grading bulls.

Again, larger feeders have been able to hammer out better deals, with €8/kg being paid to a few large bull finishers this week for a mix of under-24-month R and U grading heavy bulls.

UK

Prices in Britain have eased a little this week, with bullock and heifer prices both coming back 5p/kg according to the AHDB.

Cow prices, on the other hand, actually improved in the last week, up 2.8p/kg. R3 bullocks and heifers are still coming in at £7/kg (€8.65/kg incl VAT).

The manufacturing trade is still performing very well, with good weather driving burger and barbecue meat sales.

Shops are also slowly putting the price of meat up. This hasn’t had any effect on consumption so far, but all eyes will be on retail sales to see if they hold up for May.

Numbers are extremely tight, with last week’s kill dropping to just over 28,000 head, the lowest normal weekly kill since COVID five years ago.

Very few farmers have cattle left in sheds and with grass supplies tight in the south, grass cattle are still a little off coming to finish, which will leave numbers tight for the foreseeable future

IFA livestock chair Declan Hanrahan said: “Farmers need to do their sums when selling cattle, bargain hard and price around.

“I have heard of different farmers getting different prices in the same factory this week.

“Agents have the leeway to give more, so farmers shouldn’t accept the first quotes, as there is more available. Farmers with small numbers of cows or finished cattle should be looking at the mart as an option, as the trade for finished cattle in the mart at the moment is very strong.”

NI trade

Northern Ireland quotes have come under a little pressure this week, with quotes coming back 10p to 20p/kg to 666p/kg (€8.23/kg incl VAT).

Numbers are tight and the current price pressure isnt expected to last.