Cattle prices continue to strengthen

Cattle prices continued to harden late last week and over the weekend. Yesterday, factories were quoting 316c/kg for Rs and 302c/kg for Os.

A number of factories are paying a flat rate for mixed lots of Os and Rs in an attempt to buy cattle.

Teagasc beef specialist, Bernard Smyth, said the high numbers of cattle finished before Christmas indicates that cattle should be scarce for the spring.

However, he criticised factories for paying over the top for poorer-quality cattle on a flat rate for mixed grades

"It's not good for business when better quality cattle aren't being rewarded," he said.

The Teagasc man said bull finishing was in no way attractive this year.

"Feed costs were very high, so finished bulls will be significantly down this year.

"Farmers were not buying bulls to finish unless they had their own home-grown feeds, which gave them a cost advantage over farmers who had to buy in all their feed," he said. He added that if prices were to increase some more, farmers who had intended putting cattle back out to grass may decide to finish them in the shed instead.