Factories may be using Brexit to their advantage in trying to talk beef prices down, but the live trade has not been impacted so far. Mart managers have commented that although plainer types of cattle and cows are a little easier in some areas, the majority of store cattle and weanling prices remain unchanged in the past few days.

Speaking after this Satruday's sales, Richard Kirwan, mart manager at New Ross Mart said that numbers of cattle for the sale were good, and there seemed to be no major change in prices to any extent. He said that the trade for sheep on the day was slightly improved.

Solid and steady

Stephen Hannon, mart manager at Aurivo’s Ballymote and Mohill marts said that demand in Mohill today was solid and steady, the same as the previous week. Numbers on offer have reduced in the past few weeks but demand was strong. He added that there were a number of plainer Hereford cross forward bullocks through the ring which still sold from €1,200 to €1,250 between 550-600kg. Stephen said that cows were back slightly, by up to €40 per head, but this was mainly due to beef price pressure on cows as a separate issue to Brexit.

At Aurivo Mart, Balla, mart manager, Michael Murphy said that prices today were broadly similar to last week. Tom Jordan emphasised that in the wake of Brexit, farmers need to steady themselves and not to panic. The trade for forward bullocks and fleshed cattle was firm, but like other marts, cows were slightly back in terms of price. Tom said that the slight price drop in the case of cows has come about directly from factory moves last week to ease cow beef quotes.

Lambs up €6/head in Headford

Headford Mart’s Joe Wynne said that lambs were up about €6/head at today’s sale, but cattle were back slightly. In the main, the trade remained strong for most cattle types, but he said that forward bullocks suitable for slaughter or short keep were back on last week.

David Quinn, Carnew Mart said that there was a very large entry of over 800 head of cattle for sale today. He said that the sale was firm, with prices similar to last week's. Forward and heavy bullocks sold for up to €1,000 over the weight in some cases, which again was similar to the previous week. Similarly to other marts, store Friesian cows were back lightly in price, but in the main, forward, fleshed and short-keep types were met with similar demand and prices to the previous week.

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