Beef prices keep rising at factories

Marts: Continued hardening in beef prices at the factories has been confirmed in the analysis of farmer pay-sheet returns for last week, which show improvements of 1-3 cents/kg (up to 1p/lb) in the prices paid for cattle.

The national average for R4L bullocks and heifers increased to over 104p/lb with individual factories paying up to 106p/lb, while the overall average for O4L increased to 102p/lb and up to 104p/lb was paid by the top factories.

The improvement was paid in a week that saw bullock supplies increase by 1,400 head to 14,718 head. The total kill for the week was 33,318 head, 1,200 head higher than the same week last year. Supplies of heifers at 9,875 and cows at 6,227, were higher than at this time last year.