Livestock Price Data

Organic Livestock Prices

December/January 2023

	£ / kg Data courtesy of OLMC
Beef - Finished (under 30 months)	£5.30 (R4L Base)
Cull Cow (OTM in spec)	£3.50 (R4L)
Beef - Stores	See store cattle report below
Lambs - Finished OSL	- (R3L)
Lambs - Finished NSL	£6.00 (R3L Base)

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

Market Summaries

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.

(28 November)

Organic Prime Beef Cattle

The trade for quality prime organic heifers and steers continues to strengthen marginally. Prices have definitely firmed as the supply has tightened in past weeks. In some cases cattle had done well on early autumn grass only to be knocked back by the incredibly wet weather we have since experienced.

Forage stocks are on the whole in good supply, the quality of the forage is very variable.

The New Year would look to hold similar or better levels of price depending on continued or improved retail demand.

Organic Cull Cows

Cull cow prices have eased back from the dizzy heights we experienced mid-summer. The demand is still reasonable but the numbers coming forward are proving more than currently required thus weakening the trade.

The prices for cows both conventional and organic will likely strengthen into the New Year and often improve with colder weather.

Finished Lambs

Lamb prices have strengthened in the past few weeks. There is generally this time of the year a few retailer promotions for the Christmas period which push things on. Also, with many areas of the country experiencing very wet weather, lambs have struggled to finish which has created a lull in the supply coming on to the market.

The price is expected to get better in the New Year, lambs will undoubtedly be harder to source the closer we get to the spring. All of which could contribute to similar levels or even stronger prices than we experienced last spring.

Finished Stock Marketing Office; 01763 250313

Tim Leigh; 07850 366404

James Doel; 07741 248928

Store Cattle Report

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

(27 November)

Finished cattle prices continue to hold albeit with a slight drop at the end of October. The ROI price is almost £1.00 per kg lower than the UK price which is a concern. The organic price seems to be holding up well although there now seems to be a decline in the difference between the conventional price and the organic price. This is not a reflection on the unpopularity of organic meat but it is an indication of the strength of the conventional price at the moment. Going forward I predict prices to hold well into the New Year.

Store prices again, continue to hold, despite the fact that we have now reached the end of the main autumn buying period. We are now taking orders for grazing cattle in the spring, last year we were swamped with orders and did not fulfill everyone’s requirements. I’m confident this year, that provided we get orders in early enough, we should have adequate supplies, but we do need to know well in advance of what you are looking for.

Store lamb prices continue to be very buoyant with numbers seasonably short. Prospects for hog prices look favourable post Christmas as supplies look like being tight.

Please do not hesitate to contact myself or David Bostock to discuss the best way to sell your cattle and store lambs.

Peter Jones – office 01829 730 580 / mob 07720 892 922

David Bostock – office 01829 730 580 / mob 07734 808 050

OLMC's sum-up of the 2022 lamb trade

It all started so well this year. That’s what many sheep keepers were saying when they finished lambing. Crops had generally been good, and fortunately for most shepherds, there were none of those awful days and nights when both wind and rain combine causing lambs to get separated from their mothers, and turning what was a very decent lamb crop into a very ordinary one.

With UK inflation running at around 10% during the last few months flock owners would have settled for that but with lamb creep increasing by around £100 per ton, fertilizer more than doubling in price and massive fuel prices increases, profitability could only remain at 2021 levels if lamb prices improved. Unfortunately this didn’t happen and for several periods this year we have seen finished lamb prices below last year’s levels.

For those farmers who finish their lambs off grass, the lack of rain meant using some of their silage ground, and by September even lowland flocks were eating into winter rations to maintain body condition in their ewes at tupping. There are already reports circulating that there will be more barren ewes this autumn as a direct result of the drought. This lack of early lambs could help those farmers who have purchased long keep lambs as it could boost the late hogget trade.

Overall the number of Hogget and lambs slaughtered are 2.2% up on last year, and November did see finished lamb prices firm, but before we get too excited fat lamb prices are still 9% below last year and although it looks as though feed prices will level off, nobody would like to say where agricultural inflation is going.

(Ian Turner of OLMC, December 19 2022)