Beef / Lamb & Pig Price Tracker

neilo · Aug 2, 2021

gone up the hill said:
You are the one who needs to get real ( as you put it )

What lambs eat is not the only cost that most farms have when producing prime sheep!

Most prime lambs today were under £100 head at Exeter anyway so your comments are out of date ref lamb prices.

Reality is neilo for some reason you seem to want to talk down prices all the time, as i said before NO other industry would do this and if you suggest to other industry's that they should be talking down their own end sale price they would look at you like you are mad!

Not much change out of £100 now when your fill your truck with fuel and all input prices are only going to go one way and that is up!

Your £100 or less for a prime lamb will not look very clever come 6 months time for sellers who have sold most of their lamb crop for less than £100 by then as things look.

Get a grip man, you’ll give yourself brain ache.

As posted by others above 44/45kg lambs are making £100 still (225 p/kg). Lots of farmers have ,understandably, been drawing lambs lighter to catch the trade, and these ‘out of spec’ lambs are indeed making less than £100.

What we see at these prices is a 20% increase in a year, over what was already a substantially improved price this time last year.

Chicken and pork hasn’t gone up significantly, so unsustainable price hikes will see demand reduce as more consumers switch to those alternatives.

I’m not talking the price down, ‘as you put it’, just urging daydreaming ranters to get a grip on reality.

Again, if you can’t see a profit in August lamb at £100, there is something very wrong with your system, and possibly you are too reliant on high use of those inputs that you see going up around you?

Far from talking it down, I hope we see the trade continue at these levels. It won’t long term of course, because the margins are now high enough to encourage flock expansion and over supply, as we always see cyclically over the decades.

neilo · Aug 2, 2021

Nithsdale Farmer said:
Lanark did the poorest at 217pkg today

Just a quick look - every market is down on lamb numbers, too, from last week but trade still dropping...

I did get told by an auctioneer last week he though 40kgs will level around £90 fat. His words were current fat prices are unsustainable - make the most of them when you can

Careful now, you’ll be accused of ‘talking the price down’ too.

After last week’s drop, I would imagine lots of lambs will have been booked in dw, hoping to get in before they drop too, so the abattoirs will be inundated and not have to bid up in the marts. It’ll settle out in a week or so.

neilo · Aug 2, 2021

Macsky said:
I think you’ve got a pretty blinkered view on the kind of ground some folk are producing lambs off, won’t be long before we are needing £100 for a store lamb or it’s game over.

With respect, our resident ranter is in Devon, complaining that lambs don’t pay at £100/hd in August.

lloyd · Aug 2, 2021

Stop trolling Neilo he's having a hard enough time
with his underperforming Tesco shares.

livestock 1 · Aug 2, 2021

Macsky said:
Have to agree with guth here, seems like a decent return at the moment, but at the rate things are going, what are ewes going to cost to winter this year?

Funny time of year for store lambs around now.
The bit I’ve seen at UA some fellas filling up with batches of stores to feed on, quite a lot looked like bought to kill or sort through to kill at least
These fellas want them at what appears right money atm otherwise why rush in plenty more lambs to come numbers will only go up
Even if they lift a few £ in a few weeks time they are same money really if 50p factored in
Not usually much point in buying lambs to be ready in late October as everyone and his brother is at it
Cheapest lambs sold here are big lambs at first sales often enough

Northeastfarmer · Aug 2, 2021

Well finished lambs should never be under £100…ever

lloyd · Aug 2, 2021

Northeastfarmer said:
Well finished lambs should never be under £100…ever

Correct but only 3 years ago good fat lambs sold in the £70s
at the lowest point in August.

gone up the hill · Aug 2, 2021

neilo said:
Get a grip man, you’ll give yourself brain ache.

As posted by others above 44/45kg lambs are making £100 still (225 p/kg). Lots of farmers have ,understandably, been drawing lambs lighter to catch the trade, and these ‘out of spec’ lambs are indeed making less than £100.

What we see at these prices is a 20% increase in a year, over what was already a substantially improved price this time last year.

Chicken and pork hasn’t gone up significantly, so unsustainable price hikes will see demand reduce as more consumers switch to those alternatives.

I’m not talking the price down, ‘as you put it’, just urging daydreaming ranters to get a grip on reality.

Again, if you can’t see a profit in August lamb at £100, there is something very wrong with your system, and possibly you are too reliant on high use of those inputs that you see going up around you?

Far from talking it down, I hope we see the trade continue at these levels. It won’t long term of course, because the margins are now high enough to encourage flock expansion and over supply, as we always see cyclically over the decades.

You are the one who needs to get a grip ( as you put it )

£100 head or less for prime lambs means low prices for store lamb producers.

All you ever do Neilo is talk down the lamb price be that price £150 head £100 head or £80 head, it never seems low enough for you!

You are trying to justify a poor lamb price, no other industry talks down their end price like you always do on TFF..

What you are doing talking down our price/ trying to justify/argue for a low lamb price is a complete and utter nonsense!

There wont be an expansion of UK flock numbers off the back of current prices for various reasons and that does not always include the farm gate price.

You say lamb prices are really good, the lamb price looks pathetic today compared to the way the beef price has jumped upwards and stays high currently!

gwi1890 · Aug 2, 2021

Anybody remember 2016 when lambs where £3ppkg dw , we where luck to get £65 for 45kg

gone up the hill · Aug 2, 2021

Northeastfarmer said:
Well finished lambs should never be under £100…ever

Well according to Neilo they should be as cheap as possible, if the current price today was £70 head for a prime lamb he would be saying that is too high and should only be £60...... and it the prime price was £60 he would be saying £50 is enough and so it goes on...

gone up the hill · Aug 2, 2021

gwi1890 said:
Anybody remember 2016 when lambs where £3ppkg dw , we where luck to get £65 for 45kg

And what was the price of fuel/ fert/ grass seeds/ straw/ feed/ machinery parts/ machinery/ stakes/ wire etc etc etc in 2016???

Northeastfarmer · Aug 2, 2021

lloyd said:
Correct but only 3 years ago good fat lambs sold in the £70s
at the lowest point in August.

That was 3 years ago…3 years ago tractors were probably 20k less than now…plus everything else.
lambs should never dip below £100 for the work that’s involved

lloyd · Aug 2, 2021

gone up the hill said:
And what was the price of fuel/ fert/ grass seeds/ straw/ feed/ machinery parts/ machinery/ stakes/ wire etc etc etc in 2016???

Red diesel and fert have been this dear a few years ago
but I agree with you that a Good fat lamb should be £100
plus in this day and age.

gwi1890 · Aug 2, 2021

gone up the hill said:
And what was the price of fuel/ fert/ grass seeds/ straw/ feed/ machinery parts/ machinery/ stakes/ wire etc etc etc in 2016???

It’s not a very long time ago is it I agree prices have took a hike, but personally for me taking on a new farm that year without the bank of mum and dad and a young family having bought ewes and lambs at £55 /£60 a life to start up it was rather challenging! Grass seeds and fuel prices was similar tbh though

neilo · Aug 2, 2021

gone up the hill said:
You are the one who needs to get a grip ( as you put it )

£100 head or less for prime lambs means low prices for store lamb producers.

All you ever do Neilo is talk down the lamb price be that price £150 head £100 head or £80 head, it never seems low enough for you!

You are trying to justify a poor lamb price, no other industry talks down their end price like you always do on TFF..

What you are doing talking down our price/ trying to justify/argue for a low lamb price is a complete and utter nonsense!

There wont be an expansion of UK flock numbers off the back of current prices for various reasons and that does not always include the farm gate price.

You say lamb prices are really good, the lamb price looks pathetic today compared to the way the beef price has jumped upwards and stays high currently!

My point, which you appear to have missed, is that £100 for a finished lamb in August, is not a poor price. Most sane people would consider it sustainable I would have thought, for now at least.

August to October is when the glut hits the market and we see the lowest prices for finished lambs every year. If our lowest price is £100, then most producers will be happy.

gone up the hill · Aug 2, 2021

gwi1890 said:
It’s not a very long time ago is it I agree prices have took a hike, but personally for me taking on a new farm that year without the bank of mum and dad and a young family having bought ewes and lambs at £55 /£60 a life to start up it was rather challenging! Grass seeds and fuel prices was similar tbh though

Always hard to get a foothold in the industry on your own regardless of high or low farm gate prices so fair play to you for doing so and making it work

andybk · Aug 2, 2021

lloyd said:
Correct but only 3 years ago good fat lambs sold in the £70s
at the lowest point in August.

TBF that had more to do with brexit uncertainty and currency devaluation , lamb was 20% higher value in france at same point , and that tracked international markets
today bearing i mind a lot of lamb and ewe meat is exported the £ is rising it was 1.10 this time last year its 1.17 this year and rising making exports less attractive ,

aus price is still around £5pk though they will be bigger carcases bringing higher value per head

Prices & Markets | Meat & Livestock Australia

The Prices and Markets page serves as a comprehensive resource, encompassing saleyard reports, indicator reports, and auxiliary reports for cattle, sheep, and goat markets.

www.mla.com.au

price will stabilise in a few weeks after initial store sales , then we will see what numbers are there , difference this year is there wont be boat loads of NZ to drive it further down , though that stronger £ wont help

livestock 1 · Aug 2, 2021

I suppose breeding sheep prices (previous) breeding sheep prices have a part in this too
Or is that self inflicted in a way??

lloyd · Aug 2, 2021

Lamb finishing pellets wont be cheap this
winter looking at the forward price of grains today.

gone up the hill · Aug 2, 2021

neilo said:
My point, which you appear to have missed, is that £100 for a finished lamb in August, is not a poor price. Most sane people would consider it sustainable I would have thought, for now at least.

August to October is when the glut hits the market and we see the lowest prices for finished lambs every year. If our lowest price is £100, then most producers will be happy.

Lowest prices today for well finished lambs were well below £100 head for pen after pen...

Which is the point you are missing!

Carry on and keep trying to justify low farmgate prices neilo...

All you are doing is talking the industry down!

Every farmgate input has risen by at least 10+, add all these up across the board and it is much more in total than the 20% increase you claim lamb prices have increased in 12 months like for like...

Beef / Lamb & Pig Price Tracker

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

0 %

Up to 25%

25-50%

50-75%

75-100%

100% I’ve had enough of farming!

Share this page