The big get bigger and the small get out. That’s a phrase that could best describe Irish farms regarding finishing cattle. Figures obtained by the Irish Farmers Journal from the Department of Agriculture show that there were 47,140 herds that slaughtered cattle in 2024. The total number of cattle slaughtered excluding calves in 2024 was 1,781,593 head of cattle, so that means the average number of cattle slaughtered per herd stood at 38 head.

Averages can hide a lot though and within those figures are 164 feedlot herds that killed over 1,000 cattle each in 2024. These ‘mega finishers’ are growing in numbers, with just 148 herds finishing over 1,000 head in 2023, an increase of 16 herds. If we go back to 2012, there were just 78 herds in Ireland finishing over 1,000 head of cattle/year – showing the number of these large feedlot herds have doubled in the last 12 years.

Many of these herds are factory aligned with some being owned by processors or members of their families, working closely with them on a weekly basis. Table 1 outlines the full breakdown of the data over the last 12 years, showing the numbers killed out of different herd sizes during that time.

Finisher demise

We can see that the demise of the small finisher continues. If we go back to 2012, we see that there were 47,841 farmers slaughtering between one and 25 cattle. These small herds finishing cattle have seen a decline of 15,176 herds over the last 12 years. There has been a reduction of 13,517 farmers who are dealing with factories in the last 10 years, with this number declining every year over the last decade. Many of these smaller finishers have been squeezed out through economies of scale.

Factories have doubled down in the number of farmers they are dealing with over the last decade and have greater foresight of supply through some of their larger suppliers. There has been a shift in the last two to three years of smaller finishers opting to sell their animals in marts as opposed to dealing directly with factories.

Some processors have relaxed some of the criteria around the residency requirements and this means that their agents are able to purchase animals today and slaughter them tomorrow for specific markets that processors have. Smaller finishers feel that they have more power in the mart ring with a small number of cattle, as opposed to trying to hammer out a deal with a factory agent.

Table 2 outlines the big players in the finishing game. Interestingly, the number of farms finishing 1,000-3,000 cattle has remained relatively stable over the last number of years, with just minor changes in each category.

A huge change has taken place in the 3,000-5,000 head category, with the number of herds finishing between 3,000 and 5,000 head of cattle almost doubling in the last two years.

There were just 14 herds finishing between 3,000 and 5,000 head of cattle in 2022 – rising to 25 herds in 2024. The number of herds killing over 5,000 head of cattle a year dropped from 20 herds in 2022 to 17 herds in 2024.

Controlled finishing units

Figure 1 outlines the number of animals being slaughtered from controlled finishing units. Ireland’s TB problems continue to spiral out of control and this has seen an increase in the number of controlled finishing units operating in the last number of years. There have been 206,000 animals slaughtered from controlled finishing units from January-May 2025, an increase of 16,000 head on the same period in 2024 and an almost doubling of the 2017 figure of 106,000 head.

Animals from controlled finishing units are now accounting for 28% of the weekly cattle kill, with this number expected to rise even further as our TB problems worsen.

Comment

Economies of scale sometimes dictate the direction of an industry, and we are seeing this in our cattle finishing sector. Small finishers with little buying power and no bargaining power when it comes to selling their animals have exited the business and will likely continue to exit in the years to come.

The lack of a forward price contract around beef price means that the risk is just too high for these smaller finishers to stay in business. Factories and finishers have opted to engage on price and contracts and that means these finishers have a better hand when it comes to buying cattle and inputs. The beef factory protests of 2019 saw factories double down on their supplier numbers, opting to de-risk the chances of anything like that happening again – dealing with fewer farmers with bigger numbers, who would likely pass any protests in the future. It’s not all bad news for smaller farmers, with the country’s marts acting as a real lifeline in the last number of years. These larger finishers competing for stock meant there has been some fierce battles for forward store stock in rings around the country. You could argue in favour of the model of a small farmer, bringing an animal to a weight of 500-600kg, predominantly off grass, and leaving the final finishing period to the larger finishers with the scale and numbers.

One area of concern is the power that these mega finishers have when it comes to buying and selling cattle. Should they choose to offload big numbers or step out of the market in terms of buying, they can have a real impact on the trade.

For factories the benefits of dealing with larger finishers far outweigh any negatives in terms of foresight and consistency of supply.