Beef / Lamb & Pig Price Tracker

[Northeastfarmer]

Firstly and importantly, I am a farmer so this post is not anti farming. I appreciate this will be unpopular but some of us have to be honest.

Quite honestly, us farmers our unions and levy boards couldn't organise a pi55 up in a brewery. Instead of working in a forward thinking, proactive and positive manner we would rather blame supermarkets, abattoirs and wholesalers for the low prices we receive for our livestock.

The reason we are receiving such low prices for our stock is because every time the government introduces more regulations for the abattoirs, the cost of the implementation of those regulations is taken from the prices we receive for our stock.

For example in the past sheep abattoirs received;

£100 a ton for by-products
£1 a head for offal
£150 a ton for best fat
£20 a ton for blood
£6/£10 a head for skins

All of the above income streams have disappeared, instead abattoirs are having to pay £120 a ton to have the above removed off site. Pound for pound, lamb abattoirs have never paid so much for lamb on average. However, some farmers on here fail to see this.

Now could all these abattoir bashing farmers on here please tell me what the farmers, their unions or other meat promotional bodies have done over the past 10 years to help abattoirs reduce their overheads? which would then allow them to become more competitive and increase our farm gate prices.

Look at the Sunday Times rich list, some of the most wealthiest families in Britain are those who own companies that remove abattoir waste.

Additionally, abattoirs are burdened with the costs of full time vets, this matter should have been taken to court years ago as no other industry in the UK has to pay for full time Health and safety inspectors. However, independent abattoirs do not have the financial means to challenge the government and the farmers union have been useless.

If the truth be told, farmers are unable to or have no willingness to work in a united forward thinking manner. Sadly our main asset is moaning rather then challenging the long term problems we face.

Yes I’m sure Larry goodman is on the bones of his arse...

 

[Smith31]

Yes I’m sure Larry goodman is on the bones of his arse...

Go ask any abattoir owner, why did Cleveland meats shut down? its unchallenged over regulation of the abattoir sector. If the trend continues farmers will have no choice but to use Larry, there will be no small abattoirs left.

Larry is using Polish Beef.

 

[LAMBCHOPS]

The new Aldi/Lidl ,not sure which, advert is not bad, majors of British Meat/Veg with a good feel to it.

McDonald's also do a very good one as well.

ADHB need to get their finger out and come up with something to justify the levy and salaries.

Both they and NFU also need to engage as well with social media, that is where the future consumers get their news/influence.

What is the average age of posters and levy payers on here ?????? If you go to market you do not see that many mobile phones with the average age of farmers being 60 and phone will be in the pocket. If you want PR Good social media promotion give the job to the National Federation of Young Farmers who are on there phones 10 times more and talking to many of their peers who are not Farmers. I am on Facebook and have 300 friends av age 45/50 my daughter has 2000 av age 20/ 25? and is constantly beeping and barping as replying to chat . I would be happy to give the YFC a levy for promoting their future - there is competition also within to be the best, employing a good PR team with them. Now that is thinking outside the box? Lets stop moaning and be proactive. Whats your age?

 

[livestock 1]

Firstly and importantly, I am a farmer so this post is not anti farming. I appreciate this will be unpopular but some of us have to be honest.

Quite honestly, us farmers our unions and levy boards couldn't organise a pi55 up in a brewery. Instead of working in a forward thinking, proactive and positive manner we would rather blame supermarkets, abattoirs and wholesalers for the low prices we receive for our livestock.

The reason we are receiving such low prices for our stock is because every time the government introduces more regulations for the abattoirs, the cost of the implementation of those regulations is taken from the prices we receive for our stock.

For example in the past sheep abattoirs received;

£100 a ton for by-products
£1 a head for offal
£150 a ton for best fat
£20 a ton for blood
£6/£10 a head for skins

All of the above income streams have disappeared, instead abattoirs are having to pay £120 a ton to have the above removed off site. Pound for pound, lamb abattoirs have never paid so much for lamb on average. However, some farmers on here fail to see this.

Now could all these abattoir bashing farmers on here please tell me what the farmers, their unions or other meat promotional bodies have done over the past 10 years to help abattoirs reduce their overheads? which would then allow them to become more competitive and increase our farm gate prices.

Look at the Sunday Times rich list, some of the most wealthiest families in Britain are those who own companies which remove abattoir waste.

Additionally, abattoirs are burdened with the costs of full time vets, this matter should have been taken to court years ago as no other industry in the UK has to pay for full time Health and safety inspectors. However, independent abattoirs do not have the financial means to challenge the government and the farmers union have been useless.

If the truth be told, farmers are unable to or have no willingness to work in a united forward thinking manner. Sadly our main asset is moaning rather then challenging the long term problems we face.

I agree with the fact regulation burden has eaten away at the value to the primary producer. But it’s not just that is it? It’s fuel costs, rates, commercial property costs and rents, minimum wage, £500 to set up a pension for workers it’s all to pay for and it appears that we are paying for it.
On your figures of record prices paid by the processors, how do those figures look after they come out of the other end of the inflation calculator?? Are you sure they are record figures? Compare them to my main costs feed fuel fertiliser. How do they compare then. I appear to be selling more weight of cattle and sheep each year with the profits showing a lower percentage of increase compared to the turnover

 

[ISCO]

Firstly and importantly, I am a farmer so this post is not anti farming. I appreciate this will be unpopular but some of us have to be honest.

Quite honestly, us farmers our unions and levy boards couldn't organise a pi55 up in a brewery. Instead of working in a forward thinking, proactive and positive manner we would rather blame supermarkets, abattoirs and wholesalers for the low prices we receive for our livestock.

The reason we are receiving such low prices for our stock is because every time the government introduces more regulations for the abattoirs, the cost of the implementation of those regulations is taken from the prices we receive for our stock.

For example in the past sheep abattoirs received;

£100 a ton for by-products
£1 a head for offal
£150 a ton for best fat
£20 a ton for blood
£6/£10 a head for skins

All of the above income streams have disappeared, instead abattoirs are having to pay £120 a ton to have the above removed off site. Pound for pound, lamb abattoirs have never paid so much for lamb on average. However, some farmers on here fail to see this.

Now could all these abattoir bashing farmers on here please tell me what the farmers, their unions or other meat promotional bodies have done over the past 10 years to help abattoirs reduce their overheads? which would then allow them to become more competitive and increase our farm gate prices.

Look at the Sunday Times rich list, some of the most wealthiest families in Britain are those who own companies which remove abattoir waste.

Additionally, abattoirs are burdened with the costs of full time vets, this matter should have been taken to court years ago as no other industry in the UK has to pay for full time Health and safety inspectors. However, independent abattoirs do not have the financial means to challenge the government and the farmers union have been useless.

If the truth be told, farmers are unable to or have no willingness to work in a united forward thinking manner. Sadly our main asset is moaning rather then challenging the long term problems we face.

Your point on farmers and their representative bodies not being able to organise a pi55 up in a brewery just about sums it up really. The Vegan brigade have jumped on the environmental bandwagon without any form of strong coordinated response from the industry.

I understand your points on the abattoir sector although have no specific knowledge of the sector. Abbatoirs and supermarkets are no different to farmers in that they will pay as little as possible for their inputs.

 

[george 600]

Larry is biggest user of abattoir waste. owns nearly all rendering plants in Ireland , plus biggest pet food company.

 

[Smith31]

I agree with the fact regulation burden has eaten away at the value to the primary producer. But it’s not just that is it? It’s fuel costs, rates, commercial property costs and rents, minimum wage, £500 to set up a pension for workers it’s all to pay for and it appears that we are paying for it.
On your figures of record prices paid by the processors, how do those figures look after they come out of the other end of the inflation calculator?? Are you sure they are record figures? Compare them to my main costs feed fuel fertiliser. How do they compare then. I appear to be selling more weight of cattle and sheep each year with the profits showing a lower percentage of increase compared to the turnover

We are a multi billion pound industry, if we worked together and found ways of reducing the costs of abattoir waste removal and inspection costs, farmers would see a direct benefit.

If the cost of killing lamb reduced by £5 tonight, I bet lambs would rise by £3/£4 on live price tomorrow. I would bet my farm on it.

If every lamb killed after tomorrow was worth £4 more, how much money would that inject into sheep farming?

 

[Woolless]

Firstly and importantly, I am a farmer so this post is not anti farming. I appreciate this will be unpopular but some of us have to be honest.

Quite honestly, us farmers our unions and levy boards couldn't organise a pi55 up in a brewery. Instead of working in a forward thinking, proactive and positive manner we would rather blame supermarkets, abattoirs and wholesalers for the low prices we receive for our livestock.

The reason we are receiving such low prices for our stock is because every time the government introduces more regulations for the abattoirs, the cost of the implementation of those regulations is taken from the prices we receive for our stock.

For example in the past sheep abattoirs received;

£100 a ton for by-products
£1 a head for offal
£150 a ton for best fat
£20 a ton for blood
£6/£10 a head for skins

All of the above income streams have disappeared, instead abattoirs are having to pay £120 a ton to have the above removed off site. Pound for pound, lamb abattoirs have never paid so much for lamb on average. However, some farmers on here fail to see this.

Now could all these abattoir bashing farmers on here please tell me what the farmers, their unions or other meat promotional bodies have done over the past 10 years to help abattoirs reduce their overheads? which would then allow them to become more competitive and increase our farm gate prices.

Look at the Sunday Times rich list, some of the most wealthiest families in Britain are those who own companies which remove abattoir waste.

Additionally, abattoirs are burdened with the costs of full time vets, this matter should have been taken to court years ago as no other industry in the UK has to pay for full time Health and safety inspectors. However, independent abattoirs do not have the financial means to challenge the government and the farmers union have been useless.

If the truth be told, farmers are unable to or have no willingness to work in a united forward thinking manner. Sadly our main asset is moaning rather then challenging the long term problems we face.

You make some good points @Smith31, particularly regarding the trade for 5th quarter products. I know that lamb skins are virtually worthless at the minute. But a couple of points I would raise:

-IIRC, the supermarket share of retail price for red meat has risen by 13% in the last couple of years. The current downward pressure on the beef price in particular reminds me of what happened post horsegate. The supermarkets had to take their medicine for a while and paid proper money for quality product, This was followed by sustained downward pressure, led by St Merryn and Tesco if Robert Forster's newsletter was correct. I think currently they are trying to pull the price down anticipating it to rise markedly following a hard Brexit.

-Official Veterinarians in slaughterhouses (and their meat inspector auxilliaries) are not health and safety inspectors. They are there to protect public health, animal health and animal welfare. Their presence is a requirement of EU law and will certainly remain if we still want to trade with the EU. We have had a number of slaughterhouse welfare revelations recently and I don't think it is in anyone's interest to water down the inspection regime at the moment. I can sympathise with slaughterhouse operators regarding the costs incurred but many enjoy a substantial rebate on the charges. Whether government (and the taxpayer) should pay more is a moot point.

 

[balerman]

Nothing but doom and gloom on here and rightly so,things are bad for 3 main reasons I think.Brexit is the biggest,i think there will be a lift for beef when its done,and lamb as long as its not No Deal.Climate change is also being aimed at us,and that is a long term problem,along with the rise albeit only 1%, of veganism.Veganism may be more temporary,but in the med/long term I don't see too much to be optimistic about in the livestock sector.

 

[Smith31]

You make some good points @Smith31, particularly regarding the trade for 5th quarter products. I know that lamb skins are virtually worthless at the minute. But a couple of points I would raise:

-IIRC, the supermarket share of retail price for red meat has risen by 13% in the last couple of years. The current downward pressure on the beef price in particular reminds me of what happened post horsegate. The supermarkets had to take their medicine for a while and paid proper money for quality product, This was followed by sustained downward pressure, led by St Merryn and Tesco if Robert Forster's newsletter was correct. I think currently they are trying to pull the price down anticipating it to rise markedly following a hard Brexit.

-Official Veterinarians in slaughterhouses (and their meat inspector auxilliaries) are not health and safety inspectors. They are there to protect public health, animal health and animal welfare. Their presence is a requirement of EU law and will certainly remain if we still want to trade with the EU. We have had a number of slaughterhouse welfare revelations recently and I don't think it is in anyone's interest to water down the inspection regime at the moment. I can sympathise with slaughterhouse operators regarding the costs incurred but many enjoy a substantial rebate on the charges. Whether government (and the taxpayer) should pay more is a moot point.

I agree with your points but it is unfair for small/medium size abattoirs to have to pay thousands of pounds each week, for meat inspection costs. There should be a fixed headage payment per head of livestock. This was implemented several years ago but removed.

The high costs of meat inspection and waste removal are having a long term detrimental impact on the whole industry as more and more smaller abattoirs close down it will eradicate all competition leaving farmers in the hands of the likes of ABP.

 

[Woolless]

I agree with your points but it is unfair for small/medium size abattoirs to have to pay thousands of pounds each week, for meat inspection costs. There should be a fixed headage payment per head of livestock. This was implemented several years ago but removed.

The high costs of meat inspection and waste removal are having a long term detrimental impact on the whole industry as more and more smaller abattoirs close down it will eradicate all competition leaving farmers in the hands of the likes of ABP.

I agree. The more competition for stock the better and the trade is populated by fewer and fewer outfits.

 

[livestock 1]

We are a multi billion pound industry, if we worked together and found ways of reducing the costs of abattoir waste removal and inspection costs, farmers would see a direct benefit.

If the cost of killing lamb reduced by £5 tonight, I bet lambs would rise by £3/£4 on live price tomorrow. I would bet my farm on it.

If every lamb killed after tomorrow was worth £4 more, how much money would that inject into sheep farming?

£4 won’t be enough to stop a lot of farmers getting out or reducing sheep. Nearly everyone I know apart from maybe three people that’s including one of the three as myself have less sheep now than before the winter of 17/18. They haven’t replaced losses of that winter. That theory is backed up by breeding sheep values last back end. Which gets me back to my original question you avoided to answer.
Are these current record high prices you are talking about actually as high as you believe taking inflation into consideration. And input costs like the three f’s

 

[balerman]

Got 6 well finished steers going to Dawn at hatherleigh tomorrow 3.23 base

Weights and grades were ok,if not the ppk

 

[fieldfarmer]

Weights and grades were ok,if not the ppk

will you keep us to date when the payment sheet comes through on the 402.4 kg bullocks ppkg and the o+4L ppkg, I don't send any there anymore and would be really interested. thanks.

 

[Timbo]

Weights and grades were ok,if not the ppk

Assuming they were doing 1.3kg+ / day , not to age and you have more feed at hand, I personnally would have taken them much closer to 400kg. You may have managed a U grade without being appreciably fatter.

 

[An Gof]

Assuming they were doing 1.3kg+ / day , not to age and you have more feed at hand, I personnally would have taken them much closer to 400kg. You may have managed a U grade without being appreciably fatter.

How much lower would the price have been by then?

 

[Northeastfarmer]

Weights and grades were ok,if not the ppk

Those weights would make me cry myself to sleep

 

[Shebb90]

Weights and grades were ok,if not the ppk

Was they brought in? How old if so?

 

[balerman]

Those weights would make me cry myself to sleep

Seeing as theyre all dairy bred,the last ones to finish and the 2 smallest had cocci soon after they arrived,im happy enough.

Was they brought in? How old if so?

Came from a rearing unit at 4 months old.

 

[DRC]

Was they brought in? How old if so?

Were.