Cattle auctions: Farmers read the price board, not the farm’s profit and loss.

Perhaps you have looked recently at Portuguese cattle auctions.

Prices at record high and rewarding a simple metric: "The heaviest calf at weaning wins the day!".

Farmers read the price board, not the farm’s profit and loss.

Yet in our Mediterranean climate the scarcest input is not calf weight, but grass.
Land and forage set a hard ceiling on output. A framey cow that weans a very heavy calf may look impressive in the ring, but she also eats far more every day just to stand still. When that extra maintenance is multiplied across the herd, it silently erodes margin per hectare.

The neglected alternative is less glamorous but may be more profitable. Moderate‑framed, well adapted cows allow a higher stocking rate within the same LU/ha limits.
Each individual calf might be lighter at weaning and fetch a lower price per head, but there are more cows, more calves and more kilograms of beef leaving the farm for every hectare grazed. Once feed, health and replacement costs are accounted for, the system with the best stocking rate and fertility, not the biggest weaner, is the one that pays the bills.

So are Portuguese cattle breeder farming indvidual cows or hectares of land?

For Portugal’s extensive beef sector the questions should perghaps start to change...
Instead of asking “How heavy is my calf at weaning” the better question is “How many kilograms of calfs do I sell per hectare, and at what cost?" or "My heavy calf at weaning is benefiting me or the remaining in the value chain?"

The answer to that is where real competitiveness lies.

Together, we cultivate sustainable growth 🌱


Written by Gonçalo Pereira Miguel
Agronomist, The Land Group