Christmas trade should break 90p
The price margin between these categories is widening, with a gap of up to 10p/lb opening up between cattle under 30 months and those over age animals going into the factories this week.
All of the indications are now favourable for the young cattle, with a further hardening of prices expected to end in 90p/lb being realised within the near future, as demand outstrips supply in the lead into the Christmas trade.
The young cattle have been quite scarce this week, with most of the factories reporting a sharp fall-off in supplies. There are some exceptions, where supplies appear to be holding up, but that pattern is far from the general rule.
As a result, prices have hardened and 238 cents/kg (85p/lb) has been readily available and a bit more has been paid for good quality stock.
All of the indications suggest that this welcome trend for cattle farmers will lead prices upwards over the coming days, and it will not be very long until the 90p/lb barrier is broken for the under 20 months animals.
The date of birth, however, remains all-important, and farmers should very carefully ensure that the animals are marketed before they reach 30 months, to avoid a heavy price penalty, which is being strictly enforced this week.
That penalty is as much as 10p/lb for animals over 30 months.
The general run of prices on offer for the older cattle is 213 back to 207 cents/kg (76p to 74p/lb) for R/O graders, with some prices back to 190 cents/kg (68p/lb) being reported for O grade animals over 30 months.
There have been a few reports of stronger prices than those being quoted and paid for older cattle, but they are few and far between.
There is a good market for heavy cattle over 30 months at Galtee Meats but they must be heavy, and they must be good quality.
The prices for cows have slipped a few more cents this week. The trade for cows is weak and supplies have increased.
In the marts, the trade continued very strong for the single punched forward animals on Monday, with heavy punched out cattle showing an improved trade at Bleesington on Monday. Heifers were a stronger trade at Bandon on the same day. At Dungarvan, prices for beef and store heifers were improved by 20 or 30 per head on Monday.
