Prices rise as less than 11,800 steers processed

THERE is more optimism among cattle farmers this week that prices will recover from a recent downturn, as the cattle supply tightens up.

Intake at beef factories has dropped for the third consecutive week, signalling that the supply of finished cattle left in yards is running down, after a spring season during which the supply of steers dropped more than 14% below the same period in 2007.

Farmers who were angry at the processors’ recent cuts in cattle prices, which they described as “totally unjustified”, have this week intensified their demands for higher prices, in the light of dwindling supply.