Beef / Lamb & Pig Price Tracker

Yes but your wires are crossed, we arent saying it shouldnt be worth more . We are pointing out there is a ceiling to which the consumer will pay . No point in paying us £200 for lambs and £2500 for fat cattle if there only selling 25% of what we produce because the GP cant or will not afford it. Remember too that the consumer has had rises in living costs just like the rest of us. They arent immune. Money is becoming worthless and prices for everything is nuts.
They also reckon beef is too dear even though it’s not really lifted much and they now have to import it. What are your thoughts on that?
 

Werzle

Member
Location
Midlands
You are not going to stop input rises by saying farmgate prices should not rise as well..

All will happen is within 3/4 years at this rate instead of taking 1.2 lambs to buy a roll of bale wrap or 7 lambs to buy a ton of Fert like today it will be be 5 lambs for a roll of bale wrap and 30 lambs to buy a ton of fert and so it goes on.

With such high farm gate inflation across the board for all inputs there is no other option but for farm gate prices to rise as fast as well.

Anything else is just not sustainable either in the short or long term!

And as for that Fieldsman! he should be sacked, he is like to the livestock industry like Boris is to British politics!
Tbf he was pointing out the price facts, not saying its was too dear or cheap either way. I dont think a world where a loaf of bread is a tenner etc is good one even if the price of wheat doubled, just seems to be a nonsense.
 

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
Must be knocking on ten years ago now, butcher in local village used to chop up some lambs for me and I happened to ask how much he was charging for his lamb, he produced a leg from out the back an said “if you want that it’s £50”!!
Now that’s ten years ago, so the problem isnt the price we’re getting, the problem is, the men after us can’t take as much profit out of our product as they have been doing for years previously!! They’ll have to adjust their sights to making smaller margins like we have to when our costs go up!! We’re about to start lambing 1400 ewes, me my Mrs an two helpers, me an Mrs doing night and day, alternate nights, couldn’t afford to pay night staff, the lambs ought to be feckin £500 a piece, who else would do it!!
Turn the twins out, turn the lot out if you want, it’s surprising how much easier it is albeit weather on your side.
 

Hilly

Member
I’ve yet to meet one person complain about lamb price in the last year. If you cant make good money at sheep this year you never will. But then I’m just a hill farmer with plain sheep so what do I know 😂
The fancy sheep bring the plain ones up
With them , like Mrs thatcher used to say you can’t make poor wealthy by making rich poor .
 

Frank-the-Wool

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
East Sussex
Lamb has always been a luxury meat which is why we have sent so much to France over the years as they have no problem with paying a high price for a quality product.
Why do most of the high end cooking programmes on the TV use lamb as their main dishes.
Why do the ethnic community eat large quantities of sheep meat (they aren't allowed to eat pork!).
The right sort of sheep is more important than the price for Religious Festivals.

We devalued our own product through large quantities of NZ lamb being sent here until the late 1990's. The only good thing about NZ was that they spent a lot of money advertising lamb which helped our market.
It is a very versatile meat and for some dishes mutton can be used which often makes it have even more flavour.

We have not always advertised it as a high value, naturally fed and very healthy meat which creates the landscape of the UK which adds value to the tourist industry.

The price is not too high, but the attitude to marketing it needs to up its game. Any traditional butcher will tell you that they always sell more lamb when the price is high!!
 
Location
Devon
Be careful...he might look in on here!
Well he should not be selling out the industry like this!

I wonder what he would say if all his vendors turned around at the next market and said to him ; sorry old chap our costs have gone up. it only took you 90 seconds to sell my sheep today instead of the normal 100 seconds so i can only pay you 50% of the commision....
 

z.man

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
central scotland
I’ve yet to meet one person complain about lamb price in the last year. If you cant make good money at sheep this year you never will. But then I’m just a hill farmer with plain sheep so what do I know 😂
i think the point @Northeastfarmer is trying to make is £100 buys you very little today 300+ lambs to buy a new pickup a lamb a week to fill it up with fuel, steel ,wood ,fert feed , wages not to mention gas and oil and as for machinery.....it’s nearly as bad as the fert, spending £100k is really easy nowadays but it takes some making even with lambs at a “good price”
 
Location
Devon
Lamb has always been a luxury meat which is why we have sent so much to France over the years as they have no problem with paying a high price for a quality product.
Why do most of the high end cooking programmes on the TV use lamb as their main dishes.
Why do the ethnic community eat large quantities of sheep meat (they aren't allowed to eat pork!).
The right sort of sheep is more important than the price for Religious Festivals.

We devalued our own product through large quantities of NZ lamb being sent here until the late 1990's. The only good thing about NZ was that they spent a lot of money advertising lamb which helped our market.
It is a very versatile meat and for some dishes mutton can be used which often makes it have even more flavour.

We have not always advertised it as a high value, naturally fed and very healthy meat which creates the landscape of the UK which adds value to the tourist industry.

The price is not too high, but the attitude to marketing it needs to up its game. Any traditional butcher will tell you that they always sell more lamb when the price is high!!
We are back to the waste of space that is the AHDB beef and lamb section ref advertising @An Gof .....

You have to hand to the likes of the Kiwi's they know how to advertise their beef/lamb products very well.
 

Werzle

Member
Location
Midlands
They also reckon beef is too dear even though it’s not really lifted much and they now have to import it. What are your thoughts on that?
Its business isnt it, the more suppliers they have the more insulated they are against supply and price variations. I wonder what supermarkets would pay for products if they had to stand on there own and not be swallowed up in the things like loss leaders etc. Im not saying its right i just dont think rising prices and rising costs is the answer. Stock is dear enough now for us and the consumer, its our inputs that need to come down to improve margins.
 
Its business isnt it, the more suppliers they have the more insulated they are against supply and price variations. I wonder what supermarkets would pay for products if they had to stand on there own and not be swallowed up in the things like loss leaders etc. Im not saying its right i just dont think rising prices and rising costs is the answer. Stock is dear enough now for us and the consumer, its our inputs that need to come down to improve margins.
Yes well no one will stop the train now. You can’t put billions of printed cash into an economy and expect monetary values to stay the same. The inputs are what they are they either supply at a price they can make a profit or don’t supply, it’s not quite as simple with us we are subject to the prices offered. Unfortunately with these rising costs those offers need to be more to create the same margins.
Remember money on its own before you spend it is worthless it’s only value is what it can buy and it can buy less now than it could this time last year
Hence our prices need to at least hold or rise
 

Werzle

Member
Location
Midlands
Would probably be better off ......1000 lambs @-£30 =30k , 120t fert at £400 less =£ 48k , 20k litres fuel at 50% of current value 7k so it would depend on how much cattle and grain dropped but on the deal your offering , yes please
Thanks, you have helped get the point i have been trying to get across. I wonder to what point you could cut numbers using less fert to make the same overall profit, not easily done without trying it. If we all tried it then production would drop and demand /prices would rise. Unless the sods just imported more🤣
 

Optimus

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North of Perth
Thanks, you have helped get the point i have been trying to get across. I wonder to what point you could cut numbers using less fert to make the same overall profit, not easily done without trying it. If we all tried it then production would drop and demand /prices would rise. Unless the sods just imported more🤣
All they will do is import more.
 
Thanks, you have helped get the point i have been trying to get across. I wonder to what point you could cut numbers using less fert to make the same overall profit, not easily done without trying it. If we all tried it then production would drop and demand /prices would rise. Unless the sods just imported more🤣
I think trying to calculate margins on lower input prices is a waste of time
Similarly using less fert or feed ect
Cattle and sheep could be sold in a rougher condition years ago but if you want to be in the game now they really need to look the part
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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