Heifers mostly up, steers down

Tuesday, 10 March, 1998

By FWi staff

FINISHED cattle prices ended mixed at auctions across England and Wales yesterday. The overall average price eased only slightly, and better returns for heifers meant female stock outperformed steers and young bulls.

Average prices for all cattle eased just 0.31p on the week to 86.80p/kg, according to the Meat and Livestock Commission.

But this masked a 1.38p gain in the light heifers price to 87.95p/kg. Medium heifers made 87.21p/kg (+1.04p), and heavy heifers made 86.01p/kg (+0.34p).

The overall fall in the average price was caused mainly by poor-selling bullocks. Light steers lost 5.05p and averaged 83.63p/ kg. Medium steers steadied at 86.95p/kg (+0.01p) and heavy steers were down to 85.34p/kg (-1.35p).