Last week had the biggest kill of the autumn so far at 37,698, up from 37,056 the previous week. The biggest jump was in the cow kill, up from 4,405 the previous week to 7,212, which is to be expected at this time of year, as continued heavy rain in many part of the country is pushing farmers into decisions for when to get cattle off the land.

Steer kill was down 1,147 head to 17,089 last week on the week before and, likewise, the heifer kill was down 1,185 to 10,457 head. The young bull kill was 2,358, up just marginally on the previous week.

Reports suggest that priority is still being given to cattle under 30 months, while in the North, priority is being given to killing cattle instead of sheep, but overall the kill is getting closer to normal for this time of year, especially in the factories that had least disruption.

The big question now is how factories will plan for the Brexit deadline of 31 October. Some stockpiling is likely again, though the experience of the missed deadline in March may mean more caution this time.

Prices

As for prices, there is no great change on the previous week. The vast majority of steers are moving at a base of €3.45/kg for steers and €3.55/kg for heifers.

It is only exceptional cases that have been paid above these rates and while there was talk of some factories going to try to buy at €3.40/kg for next week, the feeling is that this is to get the deals closed at a €3.45/kg base.

There is little interest in young bulls and where factories are buying, it is still in the range of €3.40/kg to €3.45/kg for R grades, while U grades are trading 10c/kg higher at €3.50/kg to €3.55/kg.

It is important to check the factory’s position on weights when selling young bulls, with reports of a big variation on what is accepted.

As has been reported, some factories are slow to quote for anything over 420kg, while there are others that will accept 470kg to 480kg bulls.

It is very much a case of checking in advance if you have heavy bulls to sell.

The jump in the number of cows killed reflects that the seasonal cull is under way and is putting pressure on prices.

As always with cows, it is important to make sure the factory is really interested in cows before dropping them off in the lairage.

As always at this time of year, there are a good few cows coming straight from milking that are therefore very plain.

For P+ cows, the prices run between €2.60/kg and €2.75/kg, while O grades are selling between €2.75/kg and €2.95/kg at the top. Good-quality R grading cows are starting from €2.95/kg, but it is a struggle to get much more than €3.00/kg

Northern trade

The trade remains flat in the North as well, with quotes between £3.12/kg and £3.20/kg for U-3 cattle, which is the equivalent of between €3.51/kg and €3.60/kg at Wednesday’s exchange rate of 89.9p = €1.

It is more difficult to get deals above the quotes this week and even heifers are being bought close to the quoted rates, with less deals available.

There are plenty of cattle available, with last week’s kill of 10,953 the highest weekly kill for nine years and one factory is killing six days.

Britain has been steady in recent weeks and it is more or less the same again this week, with the AHDB reporting that the average R4L steer price is at 335.5p/kg (€3.93/kg @89.9p with VAT added), down 0.3p on the previous week, while R4L heifers were up a fraction to 333.6p/kg (€3.94/kg).

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NI trends: prices steady as beef kill rises