Factories continue to nail down prices

Steers Heifers Cull Cows Young Bulls WITH thousands of public sector workers striking over pay, beef farmers and their leaders remain amazingly quiet as another week of price pulls passes.

This week bullock prices were pitched at €3.60-€3.65/kg while factories continue to nail the heifer price at exactly 10c/ kg above that at €3.70/kg with a few hitting the €3.75/kg mark.

As this is a short week due to yesterday’s bank holiday the theory goes that factory kill numbers should dip but the reality is most plants kill four days anyway so it is reasonable to suspect that this week’s kill will be broadly in line with the numbers for the last four weeks which have consistently been in the 35-36,000 head bracket.

Looking at the figures for the month in closer detail the reality is numbers of stock, bullocks, heifers, bulls and cows,have all contributed to the rise, however the tide has to go out sometime.

Both cows and bulls continue to be remarkably resilient, with cows again this week in the €320-315/kg bracket for R’s with O’s largely on €3.00/ kg while your better P grade is guided at €2.90/kg. Bull prices range from €3.80/kg for U’s back to €3.60/kg for O’s with R’s on €3.70.

However, Fresian stock continue to feel the pressure.

Last week’s ICMSA report into the Quality Payment System has added cold mathematics to the arguments of many who claim the pricing grid adopted by the factories in late 2010 was not price neutral.

ICMSA’s claim that €78m has “disappeared” from beef farmers cheques over five years is a stark reminder of a culture among the grids exponents that implied if you did not own so called “better cattle” you were a second class beef farmer.