Most if not all the country is covered in grass at present, keeping most farmers smiling. NI manufacturing beef is back around 10 - 20 cents, with SI beef schedules steady overall. Talks are beef schedules will ease further heading into Christmas! NI lamb is back to $7.90, with SI lamb back to $7.70 this week. On the dairy front, The GDT auction was up 2.2% overall, with WMP up 2.5% this week. Fonterra has announced the revised payout range down to $6 - $6.30/kg. Dairy farms are slowly selling, with prices back on last year, and some going to beef at these new levels. Herds are selling around $1800 - $2000, however there are very limited sales at present. I/C heifers are selling around $1600 - $1800 for local & export markets. Weaner heifers are around $500 - $650 depending on quality. On the beef & sheep front, store cattle demand is being fueled by plenty of feed now, with Friesian 1yr bulls fetching $2.80 - $2.90kgLW, and Friesian wnr bulls around $450 - $500. 1yr Steers are fetching $3.50 - $3.70kgLW, with heifers around $3 - $3.30kgLW. 2yr Steers are around $3 - $3.20kg, with heifers around $2.80 - $3.00kgLW. Store lamb markets remain hot this week, with prices $20 - $30 up on last year. Plenty of demand fueled by plenty of feed is seeing most fetching $3.70 - $4.
Have a great week from the MLR team.