Beef / Lamb & Pig Price Tracker

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Why was Oswestry fat lambs nearly 20p less than other markets in the country today?

HCC text tonight had the sqq average across Wales at only 176p. Remember that your Northern marts are for lambs weighed empty, as they go into the ring, whereas most down here (including Oswestry) will be for lambs weighed before penning.
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Plenty of younger people renting a 200 acre farm for 10/12k and selling a thousand lambs a fiver better hence six months of their rent being paid. We can all be romantic but the bottom line counts i have been and are one of them for the last 15 years would love to sell in live market if it was more consistant

I agree with the principle, and my extra fiver certainly doesn’t go to any golf course, but i’d Love to know where I could rent 200ac for £10-12k, especially if it was capable of selling 1000 finished lambs.
 

@dlm

Member
Plenty of younger people renting a 200 acre farm for 10/12k and selling a thousand lambs a fiver better hence six months of their rent being paid. We can all be romantic but the bottom line counts i have been and are one of them for the last 15 years would love to sell in live market if it was more consistant
Good on you imay guessing 20 years younger than me. But forget romance do you see any realism in dw maintaining a 5 quid premium for longer than 3 years until they have a monopoly and then will turn into a 7 or 8 pounds deficit? If so I hope to hell I'm proved wrong.. but also 1000 lambs sold on 200 acres? Are you on rally hard ground or running a lot of cattle along side out of interest?
 
Location
Cleveland
Good on you imay guessing 20 years younger than me. But forget romance do you see any realism in dw maintaining a 5 quid premium for longer than 3 years until they have a monopoly and then will turn into a 7 or 8 pounds deficit? If so I hope to hell I'm proved wrong.. but also 1000 lambs sold on 200 acres? Are you on rally hard ground or running a lot of cattle along side out of interest?
Once they have full control you won’t be getting £5 more you’ll be getting what the fudge you’re told
Larry will crucify the lot of us
 
Markets unless they are vibrant regarding competition between buyers will probably see the auctioneers take on the role of agents for our fatstock. Store buyers are plentiful so no need to worry about that part of the system. The method of selling has changed historically time and time again and will always keep changing to keep us all in business. I have 50 ton of lamb to sell so does my neighbour and his neigbour it would not take rocket science to gather that meat in regionally and negotiate a fair price. The future is in the hands of the buyers a good price carry on bad we will see change.
On my visits to store sales at Hexham and Longtown, it's always surprised me how many of the lots were bought by dealers. Most of them!
 
Once they have full control you won’t be getting £5 more you’ll be getting what the fudge you’re told
Larry will crucify the lot of us
I think I'm right in saying that your lamb crop is largely terminal sire breeding, 50kg+ and sold as hoggs in the spring? Clearly, you would be mad to send them deadweight. Anything I have ready at that time goes through the mart as well. Even then I find you need to put them through the ring yourself or risk a shafting.

For those selling more supermarket-type lambs through the main season, deadweight selling can make sense for a number of reasons already discussed (time, reduced volatility etc.). But £5/lamb is a pretty good reason on its own! I sold a few through the ring last December and I reckon I was about £3 short on DW.

I take the point about allowing the big processors to dominate if the live marts fall by the wayside. But they are losing trade for a reason, that notional £5 is lining other pockets at our expense! The marts need to look hard at themselves and generate real competition for lambs and put more of that £5 bank in to our accounts. After all, we pay commission, they work for us. As said, I market most of mine through a co-op and I put my trust in them to have the clout with processors to get the best deal that they can.

BTW, @Northeastfarmer, don't a lot of your cattle go on the hook to Woodheads?
 
Location
Cleveland
I think I'm right in saying that your lamb crop is largely terminal sire breeding, 50kg+ and sold as hoggs in the spring? Clearly, you would be mad to send them deadweight. Anything I have ready at that time goes through the mart as well. Even then I find you need to put them through the ring yourself or risk a shafting.

For those selling more supermarket-type lambs through the main season, deadweight selling can make sense for a number of reasons already discussed (time, reduced volatility etc.). But £5/lamb is a pretty good reason on its own! I sold a few through the ring last December and I reckon I was about £3 short on DW.

I take the point about allowing the big processors to dominate if the live marts fall by the wayside. But they are losing trade for a reason, that notional £5 is lining other pockets at our expense! The marts need to look hard at themselves and generate real competition for lambs and put more of that £5 bank in to our accounts. After all, we pay commission, they work for us. As said, I market most of mine through a co-op and I put my trust in them to have the clout with processors to get the best deal that they can.

BTW, @Northeastfarmer, don't a lot of your cattle go on the hook to Woodheads?
Yes they do go deadweight but only because they are zero buyers ring side for large bullocks or heifers now...I would much prefer everything to go live and still sell cull cows and any heifers live that would suit
As for lambs there still seems to be plenty of buyers for most lambs in the marts around here, blackies and Swales sell decent if well finished
I can see in the last few years the deadweight men are getting a real hold of the job now and won’t be long before Larry has everything where he wants it
And you have to remember that the deadweight firms only have to put you back a grade or pull a kilo off and they also have a fiver off you
 

Poorbuthappy

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon
Good on you imay guessing 20 years younger than me. But forget romance do you see any realism in dw maintaining a 5 quid premium for longer than 3 years until they have a monopoly and then will turn into a 7 or 8 pounds deficit? If so I hope to hell I'm proved wrong.. but also 1000 lambs sold on 200 acres? Are you on rally hard ground or running a lot of cattle along side out of interest?
More than 3 years?
It's been like it for the last 15+ years apart from a bit of seasonal variation.
 

Henarar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
Has anyone any ideas as to what the markets could do to improve liveweight selling prices ?

how about banning multiple accounts ?
lowering charges ? but I wouldn't think there is much scope for that
any other ideas ?
 
Yes they do go deadweight but only because they are zero buyers ring side for large bullocks or heifers now...I would much prefer everything to go live and still sell cull cows and any heifers live that would suit
As for lambs there still seems to be plenty of buyers for most lambs in the marts around here, blackies and Swales sell decent if well finished
I can see in the last few years the deadweight men are getting a real hold of the job now and won’t be long before Larry has everything where he wants it
And you have to remember that the deadweight firms only have to put you back a grade or pull a kilo off and they also have a fiver off you
I absolutely agree that meat processing capacity is falling in to fewer and fewer hands. I don't know at what point the monopolies and mergers commission or similar would take a look?

Regards sheep grading, I believe that the RPA are going to be inspecting that now as well as cattle. I'll speak to 'Green Hat' the next time he's in at work.
 
Everyone on here goes on about the sheep job will end up like the beef job if everyone goes dw but the beef job isn’t that bad it still goes up and down with supply and demand and the only reason it’s been flat this last 6 months is because cattle are finishing a lot quicker with last year s good summer with the quality grub that was made
 

LAMBCHOPS

Member
I'm guessing you appreciate it but my point exactly. Why others can't see the glaringly obvious. ..
So turn left out of your yard and take five pound less live albeit not always or turn right and make five more on dead. Over 15 years i would have built up a decent overdraft over 50k. I dont pay your bills and you dont pay mine. Nothing more annoying to see stock undersold. The fear of future COMPLETE control is never going to happen as Co -operative selling via the markets/ Auctions will happen b4 we all work for nothing. One thing that is constant is change. Auction houses need to adapt on the fatstock end and take more control.
 

Werzle

Member
Location
Midlands
Looks like the irish beefs protests have come to nothing and the only change the firms have offered is a drop from 70 days to 60 for animals on there last holding which is a joke. Until firms/supermarkets are clamped down on by governments/competion authorities etc it looks like they will always have the measure of us farmers, any farmer that thinks firms should be treated as anything other than the enemy is a fool. Time we farmers got together and bought some slaughterhouses to take the middle/ criminal men out and put an end to the beef cartels
 

goodevans

Member
I still stick by my theory that deadweight should be better as the meat plants are paying for what they get,put it another way if you needed 100 ton s of wheat would you buy the 100 tons or the produce off 25 acres and gamble on an unknown quantity and quality
 
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