The beef trade has remained very firm this week with some factories having to pay more to secure finished cattle supplies in the last seven days.
Taking a look at last week’s official Department of Agriculture prices printed in this week’s Irish Farmers Journal they show increases for both steers and heifers. The average base grade (ABG) system is the average of the base grades on the EUROP pricing grid.
Each week, factories are ranked based on the average of the reported prices paid for the QPS base grades in the particular week of trading (ie animals grading R= and R- on conformation and from 2+ to 4= on fat score).