Beef trade: Unprecedented demand for March

The intake last week topped 39,000 head, a new all-time record for weekly springtime intake

An April '09 born Belgian Blue dry cow born weighing 765kg sold for €1,710 at a sale in Skibbereen Mart. Picture: O'Gorman Photography.

A short working week has piled pressure on the beef factories to get sufficient throughput to maintain their output of filling orders on their books for beef.

The national holiday today, for St Patrick’s Day celebrations, has reduced slaughtering at the plants to three days, which is a scenario not welcomed by the bosses at the factories who are under pressure to maintain throughput.