The NBA says if more big companies actively export, more supermarkets include a fraction of cow beef in their mince, and more breeders, particularly those in the dairy sector, make extra effort to present their cows in more marketable condition then prices will rise.

It said it is disappointed with recent, all-cow, deadweight averages of just 122p per kilo, and averages of around only 45p and 67p a live kilo for dairy and beef cows at auction, but thinks prices will be better next autumn when the market, and its suppliers, are more organised.

"The cow market was caught by sheer weight of numbers. Both slaughterers and de-boners were coping well until trade was hit with heavy seasonal dairy and suckler culling," explained NBA chairman Duff Burrell, from Alnwick.

Source: icNewcastle