Bullocks and heavy heifers keep prices moving up

FACTORY prices may be in the doldrums but at marts last week those with money to spend pushed prices upwards.

This was especially noticeable among the bullocks, while on the heifer side any increases were restricted to those over 500kg.

The 300-399kg bullock saw his overall average price motor on by 9c/kg or €27-36/ hd. Add that figure to the 13c/ kg improvement recorded two weeks ago and your overall average price in this division now runs from €612-814/hd.

Moving up through the weights, the 400-499kg bullock pushed on 8c/kg to €1.93/ kg overall, with the better animal at this weight clocking in a 14c/kg or €56-70/hd improvement.

Things slowed down, however, once you went over 500kg, with the 500-599kg section seeing averages better by just 1-4c/kg across the various quality classes, while in the 600kg+ division the overall average price slipped 1c/kg.

All that said, it wasn’t a bad performance across the various weight divisions, given that factories aren’t doing anything with the price at present to encourage men to commit to the trade long term.

Turning to the heifers, last week ended with our Ringside table being fairly evenly split between those who saw their prices improved and those who slipped back.

The lighter heifer under 499kg shed 9c/kg or €31-36/ hd overall, while the top and bottom quarters of the 400499kg division lost one and four cents respectively.

The 500-599kg section fared better, improving by 6c/ kg overall; the better heifer among those over 600kg gained 4c/kg while the poorer quality, or bottom quarter, animal pushed upwards by 3c/kg.

The heifer trade has started the year, as it spent a lot of last year, yo-yoing on price while the bullock trade has so far moved quite positively.

The bull weanling trade continues to feel the cold wind emanating from too few foreign markets and the fact that factories are squeezing the price of the finished product

SOME IN THE FINISHING GAME HAVE TO HAVE MADE MONEY OVER THE LAST FEW MONTHS