IFA National Livestock Chairman Henry Burns said the tide is turning on cattle prices with supplies tightening rapidly and factories increasing prices to get numbers.
He said prices have moved on with some deals of €4 base on steers and €4.10 base on heifers paid for this week. Henry Burns said feeders needed to dig in hard and demand a strong price increase at this stage. In general, he said the base for steers is €3.95/4.00 and for heifers €4.05/4.10/kg. In addition, he said carcase weight is much less an issue with some of the big plants doing deals with no weight limit cuts. He said Bulls are making €3.70/3.80/3.90 O/R/Us with better offers in places. Cows are making from €3.15 to €3.60/kg, with €3.30 for Os and €3.50 for R grades.
Meanwhile, IFA National Sheep Chairman John Lynskey has said the lamb trade remains solid with hoggets making €5.80/kg and top prices of €5.90/kg. He said spring lamb numbers remain very low. Butchers are paying up to €7.00/kg and factory prices ranging from €6.60 to €6.80/kg. On weights, John Lynskey said after what has been a very difficult spring so far, spring lamb producers need to be getting weights up to 21kgs for April/May and increasing from June 1st.