Livestock Price Data

Organic Livestock Prices

November/December 2021

	£ / kg Data courtesy of OLMC
Beef - Finished (under 30 months)	£5.00 (R4L Base)
Cull Cow (OTM in spec)	£3.40 (R4L)
Beef - Stores	See store cattle report below
Lambs - Finished OSL
Lambs - Finished NSL	£5.10 (R3L Base)

N.B. Prices serve as a guide only and are averaged from information collected from key producers and traders.

Market Summaries

(September 27)

Courtesy of OLMC. For further information on the marketing of finished stock, please call: 01763 250313 / 07850 366404 www.olmc.co.uk

Please note prices accurate when report was written but due to the volatility currently prices may alter.

Organic Prime Beef Cattle

The trade for organic prime cattle has continued to strengthen. The supply remains tight and consumer demand for beef continues to be good. It would look that this trend will continue as we move toward the Christmas period, however, concerns still abound regarding staffing abattoirs and distributing product especially as we move towards what should be the busiest time of the year for the meat industry.

Organic Cull Cows

The demand for cull cow meat is strong throughout both conventional and organic sectors. Numbers have been short all summer, in some cases producers hanging on and putting weight on them as they tried to keep on top of the grass. It is likely we will see more come on to the market as the weather changes and cattle are brought in, especially from the dairy sector. But with demand for processing meat strong, prices will less likely spiral downwards rapidly.

Finished Lambs

A remarkable trade for lambs over the summer, prices have remained strong and consumer demand steady as British lambs like beef figured on the ‘staycation’ menu for summer holiday makers. Numbers of organic lambs coming forward have increased significantly which has weakened the trade as we came into September. But generally, lamb producers are seeing good returns for finished lambs and for quality stores.

Store Cattle Report

(November 26th)

Courtesy of Peter Jones (working in conjunction with OLMC). For further information on the marketing of organic store cattle, please contact Peter Jones or Rachel Cooke: 01829 730580 / 07720 892922 www.peterjoneslivestock.com

The demand for Organic Store cattle continues to be very strong.

Cattle of all categories are required by finishers and graziers but it is the bigger 450 kgs plus cattle over 18 months of age that are in most demand.

The price reflects the abundance of forage availability and quantity on finishing units. It also reflects the demand and buoyant price for finished cattle that has continued over the last 12 months.

I’m consistently asked what I think is going to happen in the next 12 months to 2 years and of course this is difficult to answer. All my predictions in the last 2 years could not have been more inaccurate. But it does seem that demand and consumption of organic meat remains strong with a tightening of numbers of finished cattle available to processors and butchers. This would mean that the next 12 months are likely to be similar to what we have seen in the last months. The unpredictability of the weather is a factor never to be underestimated.

Looking ahead further the picture looks very different, we are without doubt going to see substantial transformation in agriculture as never seen before. The scale of environmental, social and economical change facing UK farming cannot be underestimated.

We are heading into a complete subsidy-based change in Environmental land management and that transition, supposably over 7 years, is creating considerable uncertainty.

Demands for climate change and changes is peoples eating habits should also not be underestimated. There is no doubt in my mind that red meat consumption will reduce by 20-30% in the next 5-15 years.

The recently published National Food Strategy review, headed up by Henry Dimbley and an independent advisory panel of people across the food industry, gives us a flavour of where the food industry will head in the coming years and is well worth a read.

Back to the practicalities of everyday farming, we are always looking for more suppliers of Store cattle, lambs and Organic Dairy stock.

We are also keen to talk to new and existing Organic beef and lamb producers. We are always available for advice and guidance on Organic beef & lamb.

Please call:

Peter Jones 07720 892 922

David Bostock 07734 808 050

Manon Parry 07500 474 886