Young bulls continue to be the hardest for farmers to sell

LAST week’s kill figure of 39,100 shows that the numbers keep coming.

However, the reality remains that prices for bullocks and heifers have not been touched in over a month, continuing at €3.45/kg and €3.50/kg respectively, with reports that here and there an extra 5c/kg is possible once you tick all the boxes.

In conversations yesterday with various agents up and down the country, the issue of oversupply was a common theme.

However, how do you read the following?

“I have three weeks’ cattle in front of me. We can only sell what the market wants, and it wants in-spec under-30-month bullocks and heifers.”

With the birthing demographic for those in-spec contracting as it always does at this time in the run-up to Christmas, the pool of young bullocks and heifers has to be shrinking.

Some of those desperate to get heavy and often out-ofspec stock away and money in are choosing to go the mart road because of the factory backlog.

I’m left wondering where those buying these animals think they can go with them.

Obviously, if you can buy them right and factory numbers fall, they could be profitable.

Young bulls continue to be the most difficult to shift, but prices for continental types continued yesterday to see U-grades being quoted by those with an interest at €3.50/kg, with Rs at €3.40/ kg and Os around the €3.20/ kg mark.

For those with Friesian bulls I’m told O+ -grades are €3.15/ kg, with O= €3.00/kg. Cull cows remain unchanged.

One factory agent, summing up the situation, reckons finishers blame those who partook in the pickets — paraphrasing Laurel and Oliver by suggesting “this is a fine mess you got us into”.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has forecast a 1pc decline in the global production of meat to 335m tonnes during 2019, largely due to an 8.5pc decline in global pork production due to the impact of African Swine Fever in China and other East Asian countries.

The FAO expects global beef production for 2019 to show an increase of 1.3pc, driven by higher tonnage from the EU, the US, Brazil and Argentina.

All this underlines the

‘We can only sell what the market wants, and it wants in-spec U-30-month bullocks and heifers’

importance for the Irish beef industry of the Chinese market. The value of Irish beef exports to China in 2018 was just €9m; however, industry sources believe that figure could rise to over €100m by the end of 2020.

The question for Irish producers is what’s in it for them?

The American beef industry has begun a media campaign aimed at stymying the spread of veganism. Using the idea that Old MacDonald, of nursery rhyme fame, was a decent fellow, it shows farmers at work, contented stock, rolling countryside plus food safety and quality control personnel all doing their jobs happily.

Just like Old MacDonald intended.