Beef price decline has eased

Marts: The decline in average beef prices at the factories has almost bottomed out, as the intake of cattle shows the first signs of shrinking but the factories continued to pay a margin of up to 3c/kg (1p/lb) over the official quotes.

The national average paid for R4L bullocks and heifers slipped by 1c/kg last week as the intake at the processors dropped by 1,200 head to just over 29,000 head.

Bullocks were back 400 head at 13,447 head and the heifer intake was also down by 400 head.