Local Farming: What is going on with Ireland’s factory beef price?

At the moment on my own farm, I am coming into the period of the year when the majority of cattle I have been finishing over the winter are becoming fit for slaughter. Unfortunately, the beef price is dropping week on week.

Three weeks ago, I killed a batch of cattle and then sent another group to the factory last week. In the short space of time between those two drafts, the beef price had dropped by around 20c/kg.

When you multiply that across a finished animal, it quickly adds up to a significant difference in the cheque. What makes the situation difficult to understand is that the fall in price is happening at a time when the number of cattle being processed nationally is well back on previous years.

Reports suggest that in the first nine weeks of this year, the national kill is down by around 52,000 head compared with the same period in 2025.

Two weeks ago, the kill was more than 5,000 cattle behind the same week last year. Normally, when supply tightens to that extent, the market reacts by strengthening prices. Last year was a good example of that.

In early 2025, when cattle numbers going through factories were actually higher, the beef price increased by around 80c/kg between January and March. This year, in contrast, the price has moved in the opposite direction and has dropped by roughly 40c/kg over the same period.

From a farmer’s perspective, it is hard to reconcile those figures. At the same time that I am selling finished cattle, I am also trying to replace them.

Anyone attending marts lately will have noticed that the number of store cattle coming forward is clearly reduced. Pens are smaller and there simply are not the same numbers about.

Due to the tighter supply, the trade for store cattle remains extremely strong. Prices are holding firm and in many cases are still rising. This creates a difficult situation for finishers.

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The cattle we are buying to replace those that are slaughtered remain expensive, while the price being paid for the finished product is moving in the opposite direction. That widening gap between store cattle prices and factory beef prices is making the sums increasingly difficult to stack up.

It is, however, good to see that the person calving the cow is getting a decent return, as I know firsthand, for years, there was very little return at all.

Factories may point to pressures in export markets or retail demand, but from the ground, the supply situation would appear to tell a different story. With fewer cattle being killed and fewer cattle appearing in marts, many finishers are left scratching their heads.

At a time when supply appears to be tightening, many farmers are asking a simple question: What exactly is going on with Ireland’s factory beef price? With the difficulty in the Middle East, the cost of everything is rising; everything except beef, that is!