Monday’s sale at Dungarvan Mart saw a reduced entry of stock on offer for the last sale of 2018.
Mart manager Ger Flynn said that 2018 has been a challenging year for farmers in the area, but numbers passing through the mart have been good.
The difficult spring resulted in a lower peak of prices for the spring trade, while the drought in the summer resulted in very low throughput at the mart, as poor demand resulted in a turbulent trade at the time, especially for dairy-cross cattle.
This Charolais cross heifer, born February 2016, weighed 470kg and sold for €660 (€1.40/kg).
In the last few years, the number of cull cows sold through the mart has increased, with the majority of these being dairy culls in the past few years.
With the good autumn this year and strong milk prices, we saw dairy farmers hold on to the cows much longer than usual in order to maximise milk sales.
This led to a slower movement of cull cows in the early autumn, with much larger entries later in the year as cows were dried off.
This Hereford cross heifer, born March 2017, weighed 495kg and sold for €875 (€1.77/kg).
Culls are still selling for around the weight, with some lighter plainer types making about €150 under the weight.
The calf sales in spring were large once again. In the last year or two, there have been noticeably less Jersey-cross calves passing through the mart, with many of them now going direct off farm.
There has been a noticeable increase in the number of Hereford-cross calves on offer.
In recent years, these have been scarce, but numbers are rebounding.
This AA cross heifer, born May 2017, weighed 490kg and sold for €875 (€1.79/kg).
Monday’s sale at Dungarvan Mart saw a reduced entry of stock on offer for the last sale of 2018.
Mart manager Ger Flynn said that 2018 has been a challenging year for farmers in the area, but numbers passing through the mart have been good.
The difficult spring resulted in a lower peak of prices for the spring trade, while the drought in the summer resulted in very low throughput at the mart, as poor demand resulted in a turbulent trade at the time, especially for dairy-cross cattle.
This Charolais cross heifer, born February 2016, weighed 470kg and sold for €660 (€1.40/kg).
In the last few years, the number of cull cows sold through the mart has increased, with the majority of these being dairy culls in the past few years.
With the good autumn this year and strong milk prices, we saw dairy farmers hold on to the cows much longer than usual in order to maximise milk sales.
This led to a slower movement of cull cows in the early autumn, with much larger entries later in the year as cows were dried off.
This Hereford cross heifer, born March 2017, weighed 495kg and sold for €875 (€1.77/kg).
Culls are still selling for around the weight, with some lighter plainer types making about €150 under the weight.
The calf sales in spring were large once again. In the last year or two, there have been noticeably less Jersey-cross calves passing through the mart, with many of them now going direct off farm.
There has been a noticeable increase in the number of Hereford-cross calves on offer.
In recent years, these have been scarce, but numbers are rebounding.
This AA cross heifer, born May 2017, weighed 490kg and sold for €875 (€1.79/kg).
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