Heifer prices fluctuating depending on weight categories

THE one constant in the cattle trade is its unpredictability.

No two years are the same and mart price trends do not always follow factory prices, especially at lower weights.

However, the further up in the weights you go, the more influence those factory prices have.

Last week, we looked at the mid-year figures for the bullock trade and this week I look at the heifers and compare prices today with those from last year.

Starting at the lighter end, in the 350-399kg section, we see the barest minimum of a difference when comparing overall average prices at these weights with early June 2016, just the bare 1c/kg at €2.30/kg ahead of last week’s average of €2.29/kg.

Another similarity is the fact that both these averages were stronger the previous week with the figure for the last week of May 2016 being €2.38/kg while the average figure for two weeks ago was €2.35/kg.

In the top quarter at this weight we see that this year and last year the top quarter hit an average of €2.69/ kg either in the last week of May, as it did this year, or the first week of June, as it did in 2016.

So overall, there are a lot of similarities in the 350399kg section year on year.

There is a bigger divergence in price in the 400-499kg section with last week’s average price of €2.20/kg a full 10c/kg or €40-50/hd behind the average for the same period in 2016 which was €2.30/kg.

In round figures that means the price range in 2016 was from €920-1,148/ hd as opposed to €8801,098/hd for last week. Prices come together a bit more in the 500-599kg section with the 2016 average coming in at €2.26/kg while the current average of €2.22/kg is 4c/kg less.

Looking at the better heifer at this weight, the maths gets a bit more complex. The average price for this calibre of heifer last year was €2.51/kg while last week her average was €2.47/kg.

This is odd because the 500-599kg heifer is an ideal replacement weight for stock that you might just have slaughtered.

Yet while the current factory price is 10-15c/kg ahead of the 2016 figure for this week at €4.30/kg, the actual overall average mart price for this heifer at this weight fell last week by 5c/kg.

So there she sits, 4c/kg below her 2016 mart average despite the current factory price being 10-15c/kg better off.

Moving up to the 600kg+ section, the confusion clears. By that I mean that last week’s average prices at this section are above the averages for the same week in 2016, which is what logic would dictate given that as mentioned above, current factory prices are above those of 2016.

Last week’s overall average for the 600kg+ heifer was €2.28/kg, while the average for 12 months ago was €2.19/kg, that 9c/kg or a minimum of €54/hd.

That €2.28/kg figure is unchanged from two weeks ago but the price of the better heifer was up last week by 3c/kg or €18/hd to €2.52/ kg, meaning your ringside bid last week would have to be, up or down, in the region of €1,512 if you want to bring this particular lady home.