No surprises as store and breeding cattle demand soars

It seems that no matter which market report I pick up at the moment the demand for store and beef breeding cattle is unsatiable. Quite simply there don't seem to be enough to go around and confidence in the future of the sector is riding high.

Following on from my brief report from Thainestone on Tuesday, a more detailed look at the sale figures show trade for in-calf heifers peaking at £3400 for a British Blue cross heifer due to calve in the spring from Harry Emslie. This was then backed up by a call of £2700 for a purebred Limousin, while Limousin crosses were topped at £2250 for another from the Emslie team.

Heifers with calves at foot were equally sought after, selling to a top of £1950 for a Simmental cross with a heifer calf at foot.

Moving to the recent suckled calf sales, St Boswells on Wednesday saw trade average197.1p/kg for the steers on offer, while heifers levelled the day at 176.5p/kg. The most notable thing about these prices being the rise in prices seen in 12 months, steers were 48.3p/kg up on last year, while heifers returned an average up by some 46p on 2008. Top price of the sale was a £1200 bid for the show champion, a Limousin cross steer from J Anderson and Son, Lauder, which weighed in at 340kg.

And, unsurprisingly to anyone with any knowledge of the beef sector and its recent fortunes, EBLEX has today issued figures which show a 5% drop in calf registrations by beef breed sires. Overall the proportion of beef sired calves fell to less than 70% of the annual calf crop.

The sharpest drop in numbers was seen in the main beef breeds used for AI in dairy herds  -Limousin and British Blue - with these breeds accounting for nearly two thirds of the annual beef-sired calf decline.

Indeed, of the majorr breeds the only one not showing a fall in popularity was the Aberdeen-Angus. But the Continental breeds still dominate the overall rankings, with 22% of all calves being by Limousin sires and 10% by Charolais.

It is though only telling us what we already knew and merely helps to explain the superb trade being seen for quality cattle across the UK at the moment.