August 26, 2014

July's average prime cattle price in Northern Ireland slid 15% on-year to IEP312.9/kg (US$524.66/kg), while the average cow price fell by 18% to IEP231.4/kg (US$388.03/kg), according to the Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC).

During July 2014, prime cattle throughput fell 19.5% to 22,277 head, with the average carcase weight increasing by 9.1kg to 330.2kg; cow throughput fell 20.5% to 6,684 head, with the average carcase weight increasing by 10.1kg to 311.1kg.

LMC said that imports of cattle for slaughter were at 3,318 head, about the same level from a year ago. However, the number of cattle imported from the Republic of Ireland increased 22%, while the number of cattle with UK origin jumped 708% to 849 head.

The number of Northern Ireland's beef cattle totalled 436,885 head in July 2014, a drop of 3.2% on-year. The number of beef sired cattle fell 2.7% to 397,210 head while the number of dairy sired male cattle fell by 8.3% to 39,675 head.