Processors test cattle farmer resilience
With many factories advising that they were not quoting for cattle, it was left to a minority to show their hand, and those coming up front were paying similar to or close to last week’s prices.
Dawn Meats at Midleton quoted prices similar to last week’s, at 263 and back to 252 cents/kg (94p to 90p/lb) for R and O grades, and the Dawn factory at Waterford were on the same level. They were offering 269 cents/kg (96p/lb) for U grade animals.
Excel Meats at Kilbeggan and Newgrange Meats at Navan eased the price for R grade animals by 3 cents/kg (1p/lb) and were quoting at 260 cents/kg (93p/lb), with the prices for O grade cattle holding at 252 cents/kg (90p/lb).
They were offering 269 cents/kg (96p/lb) for U grade stock.
Slaney Meats did not quote for cattle this week, and Kepak at Watergrasshill were also keeping their cards close to their chest, while their sister plant at Athleague, Co Roscommon, attracted the wrath of cattle farmers when they dropped the quotes to 260 and back to 249 cents/kg (93p to 89p/lb), and became the first factory to go public on breaching the 90p/lb for O grade animals, which is an important benchmark for farmers.
Farmers were protesting at the Athleague factory as we went to press, firing the first shots in a battle which could become bitter and difficult both for farmers and factories, with neither welcoming any disruption to the flow of cattle at this time of the year.
Farmers are finding it hard to accept a situation where their margins are being wiped out by factory prices which are 16p/lb lower than producers in the UK are receiving for similar cattle, with more than half of the beef being processed in the Irish factories being supplied to the UK trade.
IFA Deputy President, Ruaidhri Deasy said that it was not acceptable that producers should have to sell below the cost of production.
There were plenty of cattle available to the factories this week, with heavily stocked finishers anxious to lighten their numbers, following the deluge of rain over the past week.
The cow trade has also come under pressure at the factories this week, with the top prices on offer slipping back to 196 cents/kg (70p/lb) and Slaney Meats not quoting for their factory at Freshford.
