News from IrelandCattlePrice.com

Farmers have now reported what they were paid for 480 cattle on IrelandCattlePrice.com, as founder challenges retailers to show what reaches the farmer

Newport, Co. Tipperary. IrelandCattlePrice.com, the free price platform built by beef farmer Brendan Kennedy, now holds 136 farmer-reported sales covering 480 cattle from 23 counties. In the last 30 days alone, farmers reported sales covering 179 cattle.

Farmers report, anonymously, what they were actually paid at the factory. The platform shows it back to everyone in real time, beside factory quotes, mart results and weekly kill figures. The official price is published up to ten days after the fact, when the deal is long done.

"Every farmer selling cattle is negotiating against a buyer who can see the whole market," said Brendan Kennedy. "The only way to fix that is for farmers to share the number with each other. Nobody pays them to do it, and they're doing it anyway."

The platform has passed 10,000 users and 1.3 million views across its social channels, and offers more than 20 free farming tools with no login and no charge. It was one of eight finalists, from 76 entries, for Innovation in Agriculture at the 2026 NI Farming Awards.

From farm gate to counter

Kennedy has also traced two lambs from the farm gate to the butcher's counter, costing every step in between. On the second lamb, the counter value came to €346.06. The farmer received €181 net in hand: 52.3%.

He is now challenging Ireland's retailers, along with Teagasc, the Department of Agriculture and Bord Bia, to do the same with one bullock through their own supply chain and publish what reaches the farmer. He has offered to verify any such trace free of charge and to hand over his full method.

New EU rules on sustainability and social claims apply from 27 September. A label telling shoppers a product is fair to farmers now needs independent verification behind it.

"'Supporting Irish farmers' is on every shelf," said Kennedy. "From this week, it's a claim that needs proof. The simplest proof there is: what the farmer was paid, against what the shopper paid."

Figures updated weekly from the IrelandCattlePrice.com farmer report database. Farmer reports are submitted anonymously and are not independently verified.