Livestock Price Data

Organic Livestock Prices 

January/February 2020

	£ / kg  Data courtesy of OLMC
Beef - Finished (under 30 months)	£3.92  (R4L Base)
Cull Cow (OTM in spec)	£2.65  (R4L)
Beef - Stores	See store cattle report below
Lambs - Finished NSL	£4.50   (R3L Base)

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

Market Summaries

(January 14th)

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

With the festive period behind us we start the New Year awash (literately and physically in many cases) with challenges and what feels like a lambasting about farming from the media, it is hard to know what impact these will have as the year unfolds. We urge you to keep on doing what our industry is renowned for, producing the best quality and highest welfare livestock in the world.

Organic Prime Beef Cattle

January is often a difficult month for the prime beef trade with sales at this time of year normally being slow due to the “festive hangover” of excesses, however there is a feeling that we may start to see numbers get a little tighter which may help create a base to build upon.

Organic Cull Cows

Trade for cows has been quite strong with a lot of processors keen to get some manufacturing meat back into the system. It is possible that we will see a shortfall in numbers as a lot of producers will have already culled animals prior to Christmas due to weather conditions and dwindling feed supplies.

Finished Lambs

Trade for both conventional and organic lambs has been very positive over the festive period meaning that we are starting the New Year on a strong trade where prices are good. Cleanliness of lambs is a concern with it remaining so wet but there is very little issue with placing lambs with processors.

 

Store Cattle Report

(January 23rd).

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

Now that the election is over we can look forward to a period of political stability and I’m optimistic that this will spill over into the commercial world.

Despite what seems to be unending arguments appearing in the press, media and social media on why the population should not eat red meat, cattle prices are edging upwards. The anecdotal evidence is that the vegan propaganda machine is to a degree making consumers question the provenance of the meat that they are eating and I am cautiously optimistic that this is increasing demand for organic meat as reported by some retailers.

Although we are still in January and spring still some time away, producers are starting to make enquiries for cattle to turn out. The good stocks of silage and in a lot of cases empty sheds is meaning that smaller cattle are already in demand unlike this time last year when forage supplies were perilously low. The good growing conditions last year have meant that cattle are generally well grown on for their age which again, unlike the previous year will mean that grazing cattle should perform well this summer. Bigger cattle 450 – 500 kgs continue to be in demand from our regular outlets for these type of finishing cattle.

I can’t emphasise enough the importance of ensuring that steers are properly castrated and great care needs to be taken to ensure that “clean” heifers do not end up in calf. From a welfare point of view it is hugely detrimental to find young heifers in calf and very expensive to rectify. Just remember that it is the seller who is liable if clean heifers are found to be in calf. In the same way it is important, particularly with bigger cattle, that Farm Assurance is kept up to date. Again it is a costly mistake to rectify.

We have managed to find a reasonable number of organic store lambs this autumn but we are a long way short of numbers required by our customers. Ian Turner is always available for advice on the marketing of lambs and next autumn we are looking to source greater numbers.

As usual if you would like to discuss marketing of your cattle and sheep please don’t hesitate to contact us and also if you are looking for store cattle and lambs please don’t hesitate to give us a call.

David Bostock who markets the organic dairy stock for OLMC is also keen to find new organic dairy stock suppliers.

Peter Jones Office: 01829 730 580   Mobile: 07720 892 922

David Bostock Office: 01829 730 580   Mobile: 07734 808 050

Please view our stock available on www.peterjoneslivestock.co.uk

 Peter Jones

Scotland

Market information can be found at:

http://farmstock.org.uk/market-report/