It’s a game of two halves at the marts
THIS week’s Ringside report is, in sporting parlance, ‘a game of two halves’ where heifers and bullocks are concerned.
Two weeks ago the runaway winner in the league table of top performers was the 600kg+ bullock who gained 17c/kg or a minimum of €102/hd.
However, seven days is a long time in the cattle business and last week saw these heavy bullocks give up an average of 11c/ kg or €72/hd of that gain. The reasons lie in the stagnation of steer beef prices which this week again continue generally in the €3.75-3.80/kg zone.
The trade for factory heifers is more positive with beef processors continuing to favour them, with prices from €3.903.95/kg last week. Specialist orders for Hereford and Angus may see these breeds squeezing a bit more.
One way or the other your average 600kg heifer rose 21c/ kg or €126/hd following her 7c/kg fall of the previous week.
So over the two weeks she’s up €84/hd, while her 600kg steer sibling is up just €40/hd.
Looking closer you realise the trade is – as several of the mart managers mentioned in my mini mart reports – all about quality.
The top quarter of heifers in the 600kg division gained the most in the heifer and bullock tables, with a hugely impressive rise of 30c/kg or €180/hd.
The knock-on effect sees the remaining sections of the heifer table move strongly upward by anything from 10c/kg or €40- 49/hd in the 400-499kg section. Meanwhile, a 16c/kg bounce in the 350-399kg section equated to a rise of €56-64/hd.
Add in the average increase of €10-20/hd seen in these sections two weeks ago and the heifer trade is doing very nicely.
Not doing so nicely last week were the bullocks who fell, as already mentioned, not only at the heavy end, but right across the board.
The biggest average loss in c/kg was the 300-399kg who dropped 15c/kg on average and 24c/kg in the top quarter. This translates into price reductions of €45-60/hd and €84-96/hd respectively.
It’s a lot of money at any time but it’s getting into serious money in small cattle.
Staying with bullocks, the 400-499kg animal was effectively static on average, gaining just 1c/kg.
But here again the big losers were among the better quality animals, with prices falling by 9c/kg or €36-45/hd. In contrast, poorer quality animal rose by 7c/kg.
That still leaves an average price difference of 81c/kg from the top to the bottom or from €324-404/hd in this section.
In the 500-599kg section last week the top quarter averaged €2.24/kg as against the poorer animal’s €1.60/kg. This 64c/ kg difference equates to €320383/hd. These are big numbers, and in the context of slim beef margins, you’d wonder which or any is the right decision when buying.