Years of reduced profit margins, an unsupportive government and a declining labour force, are having severe implications for the beef industry – which some analysts say could all but disappear in the future without financial intervention.

While producers are at long last seeing some sort of a return for the long, hard hours involved in keeping and maintaining suckler cow herds, such has been the decline in numbers, that serious questions are now being asked about the critical mass needed to keep the now fewer abattoirs turning over – and more importantly produce beef to feed the country’s growing population.

Record prices on an almost weekly basis for both prime and store cattle are not sustainable when larger numbers of beef cows are being killed. Add in the increased number of dairy cows that are being culled due to the fall in ex-farm milk prices and it’s a double-edged sword for the industry as a whole.

It’s becoming a growing concern for abattoirs, auctioneers and finishers, all looking to sell and buy cattle.

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“We had another record sale last week, with 110 prime heifers averaging 315p per live kg, young bulls up to 343p or £2643 and an OTM bull at £3346,” said Scott Ferrie, auctioneer at Darlington Auction Mart.

Such has been the trade since the turn of the year, that the mart is seeing an increasing number of deadweight customers return to the live ring and more Scottish consignors, including some of who are not Farm Assured.

“We’ll be selling 70-80 Scottish cattle every month, with a large number out of the Borders and it’s growing all the time because we’ll have 17 men round the ring on a fatstock day all looking for cattle for different markets and not one of them is interested in Farm Assurance.

“We’ve sold 700kg young bulls from non Farm Assured Scottish farmers at up to £2300, which is fantastic, but quality stock should be selling in Scotland and shouldn’t have to be sold south of the Border,” added Mr Ferrie.

He said that there appeared to be no end to the record prices, with an increasing number of cattle being finished and at a younger age. “I can see the fat trade improving further as the cattle are not there to buy and demand for finished cattle is increasing on a weekly basis and from all types of wholesalers.

“Worryingly, cows are disappearing too and if we’re selling cattle at a younger age, all of a sudden we could be left with nothing,” said Mr Ferrie, adding that dairy cow numbers coming forward had increased by 30% this year due to the fall in the milk price.

Sourcing finished cattle is also a worry for Jimmy Wood, of Bowlands Foods, Lancashire, who looks to buy 400-450 prime cattle a week. “We start on a Monday looking for cattle and it is becoming a real struggle to find the numbers when supplies have really tightened over the last two or three weeks. It was far easier finding cattle five years ago.

“The big worry is that older farmers are getting out of farming when there is not the money in the beef sector, while others are selling more cows when there is so much money in them.

“We also finish cattle and they’re easier to buy in Scotland than in England,” said Mr Wood.

Reduced supplies of all types of beef cattle in England and Wales, have resulted in more Scottish store cattle heading south, he added.

Figures from BCMS show that the number of under 30-month-old Scottish cattle being moved to English and Welsh farms increased by 35% in 2022.

According to QMS, figures of potential suckler females on farm have also slipped in the past five years in England and Wales and Scotland. The number of beef-sired females over 30 months fell 7.9% in Scotland in January, 2023, with those south of the Border falling 10.7%. Scottish-bred breeding stock is attracting a premium from English buyers, because they are at reduced risk of TB.