Stirling bull trade driven by jaw-dropping £4/kg store price
Goldies University © Catherine MacGregor Expectations of a £6.50/kg deadweight beef base price has stoked store cattle trade and led to firm breeding bull sales this week at Stirling.
Sale-goers saw 152 bulls change hands for averages above £6,400/head across the three main breeds at United Auctions’ first bull sales of the month on Monday, 3 February.
Prior to trading, deadweight beef averages roared past £6/kg in the new year and best grading cull cows have surpassed £5/kg deadweight.
See also: Beef prices rocket in Scotland as destocking takes its toll
Demand for commercial cattle is such that organic beasts are being sold into standard commercial lines to meet supplies, sources say.
With such a strong economic backdrop, many commercial bulls made upwards of £7,000/head. Highlights included the following:
- Angus 66 bulls sold to a 67% clearance to average £7,727, up £1,542 on the year. Trade topped at 32,000gns for Idvies Pink Profit
- Beef Shorthorn 55 bulls sold to a 71% clearance to average £6,476, down £1,015 on the year. Trade topped at 20,000gns for Coxhill Taskforce
- Lincoln Red One bull, Trainview Cassius, was bought by the St Fort herd for £13,000
- Limousin 50 bulls sold to a 78% clearance to average £7,333, down £133 on the year. Trade topped at 14,500gns, with Goldies University (below).
Stirling bull sales judge Andrew Clark with bulls © Catherine MacGregor
Store awe
Awesome prices were reported at Northallerton’s Wednesday store sale recently, with store bulls hitting £2,000 and more, while Limousin steers averaged £1,750.
At Hereford, weaned bull calves levelled at 381p/kg last week (28 January) for continentals, up 74p/kg on the year for 70 more sold. Steers were 80p/kg up on the year for a 20% bigger entry. A yarding of 462 calves sold in all.
Thainstone’s store bullocks levelled at 390p/kg on 24 January for an entry of 575. Angus bullocks topped at 403p/kg and averaged 371p/kg.
As with many saleyards across the country, heavy stores around the 500kg mark grossed as much as £2,000.