I killed a batch of bullocks and a bull that was about to go over-age two weeks ago, just before the factory decided to pull the price by 20c/kg.

There is much debate among farmers as to the reasoning behind the decrease in price.

Are the factories just trying to scare farmers in to selling cattle or are they just trying to steady a ship that has definitely been driven by a strong headwind over the past few months, or has the market eventually reached the top, and is on the decline?

Whatever the reason, cattle are still a very strong price even with the recent decreases. The batch of bullocks that I killed ranged from one U=3+ Limousin-cross to one O+4-, also a Limousin-cross.

I was probably a little too focused on liveweight gain and as the cattle were gaining plenty of weight and beef price was increasing week on week

Everything in between was either an R= or R+. Weights ranged from a couple of cattle at 366kg to the heaviest at 426kg, the majority were over the 400kg carcase which I was more that happy with.

Interestingly enough, many of the lighter cattle had a fat score of 4, which would probably indicate I should have killed them earlier. I was probably a little too focused on liveweight gain and as the cattle were gaining plenty of weight and beef price was increasing week on week, I just kept feeding.

I was probably guilty of trying to push cattle with lesser potential into heavier weights and letting them go a little over fat in the process. These cattle were bought somewhat over a year ago. And from a buying price to a selling price, have tripled in value in that time.

When I bought these cattle, beef price was close to €5/kg. When I killed them, it was close to €8/kg

Now that sounds and is absolutely fantastic, but we must remember that most of that gain is down to the rise in the market. When I bought these cattle, beef price was close to €5/kg. When I killed them, it was close to €8/kg. It’s hard to believe that beef is at that number. Many would say that’s were it needs to be and rightly so, but when I go bask to the market to replace these cattle they have almost doubled in price from last year, so I think the chances of next year's selling price being three times this years buying price is probably fairly slim. Now that may seem like a complaint, but its not. It’s just dose of reality. A strong beef price can only be seen as a good thing, especially for anyone with suckler cows.

Hopefully it will be an incentive to keep people in cows and keep quality cattle in the country. Now as many of you know, I have just recently exited suckling and — strong price or not — I have to say I don’t miss them for a second. But I would like to see the people who put in the hard work of breeding and calving cows getting well paid for it, because God knows we’ve done it long enough for nothing.