Optimism in cattle farming

THE fine weather and the Ploughing Championships combined to further tighten the supply of cattle to beef factories, which has helped to underpin cattle prices.

A hardening in prices on offer through the second half of last week, as supply tightened, has been fully maintained this week, effecting an improvement of 3 to 5 cent per kg (1p or 2p/lb) in official quotes from some of the processors.

The improvement in the weather eased pressure on farmers to sell, which put pressure on processors seeking supplies.