Beef bullocks drop €35/head

Marts: Cattle prices dropped by up to €35/head at mart sales around the country yesterday as the live trade adjusted to the reduction in beef prices at the factories.

Beef bullocks and plain stores were the worst affected with heifer prices showing lighter losses on the day’s trading at some of the centres, while experiencing similar price losses to the bullocks at other locations.

Numbers of cattle on offer were broadly similar to last week, but there was certainly less optimism about the future of the trade among the buyers at the ring sides as prices experienced the largest single day decline in several months.