The beef trade has a more positive feel to it this week. Quotes have moved up a gear, with most bullocks now moving at €7.20-€7.25/kg.

There are some bullocks being sold at €7.15/kg based on deals that were completed last week, but the majority of bullocks are moving at the higher money this week – some are even hitting €7.30/kg base price when sold along with a batch of heifers. Heifers are a similar story, with quotes back up to €7.30/kg. Higher quotes of €7.35/kg have also been paid to bigger finishers this week.

Again, there are heifers being bought at €7.25/kg base price, but most farmers are holding out for an increase on last week’s quotes. Finished cattle are in short supply, with very little shed cattle available for sale at the moment.

While there are some grass cattle trickling out for sale from some of the southern counties, a dry week will likely mean farmers will be concentrating on field work and getting second cut in along with some hay before this week is out.

Any farmers with finished cattle to sell are advised to bargain hard this week, as the ball is at their foot with factories scrambling for supplies. Agents are biting at each other’s heels looking to poach cattle on other factories.

There’s also been a notable increase in agent activity around mart rings over the weekend, with agents trying to pick up supplies of cattle with the equivalent of over €8/kg being paid for factory fit cattle in marts this week.

Cows

The cow trade remains very steady, with factory agents very active for heavy, well-covered cows.

R grading cows are generally trading at €7.00/kg to €7.10/kg, while O grading cows are coming in around €6.70/kg to €6.80/kg.

Up to €7.20/kg has been paid for U grading cows this week. There is a big range in quotes for P grading cows, with those with numbers able to bargain more. Up to €6.60/kg to €6.70/kg is being paid where cows are well finished.

Good grass supply in the south has meant that farmers are milking on dairy cows and in no rush to offload culls.

Bulls

Bulls have also steadied, with €7.60/kg now available at the top end for U grading bulls, working back to €7.30/kg to €7.40/kg for O grading bulls.

Higher quotes of €7.70/kg have been paid to feeders dealing with bigger numbers

Higher prices are also being paid to farmers who are contract feeding bigger numbers of bulls, and larger feeders without a contract have also been able to hammer out better deals.

Under-16-month bulls are working off a €7.15/kg to €7.20/kg base, with a little more going where there are numbers involved.

Last week’s kill saw a huge drop in numbers, with just 26,957 head killed, a drop of over 2,000 head on the previous week. The bullock kill saw the biggest drop, down over 2,000 head on the previous week.

The bull kill was also back just under 400 head. Last week’s kill was down a massive 5,000 head on the same week in 2024 and is creating difficulty for processors in supplying supermarket contracts.

There are some positive signs from across the water as well, with beef quotes stabilising after a number of weeks of reductions.

A heatwave has seen an increased demand for manufacturing beef, with burger sales seeing a big lift over the past week, filtering through to increased factory demand for cows and heavy cattle.

Cattle supplies are also very tight across the water.

For the last week in June, the British kill was back almost 5,000 head. R4L bullocks are coming in at 635/kg (€7.85/kg incl VAT) this week. Some smaller operators have had to increase quotes by 5-10p/kg this week to get adequate supplies of cattle.

NI comment

Quotes in NI remain steady at 635p/kg (€7.85/kg incl VAT).