Last Thursday’s special weanling sale at Dungarvan Mart saw an entry of about 300 bulls and heifers on offer.
Mart manager Ger Flynn said that the trade was quite tough, with prices back on last year. Farmers were the main source of demand, with some exporters present too. Ger added that while there was some export demand, they were not as active as recent weeks, which did affect prices.
There were only a handful of heavy bulls on offer over 400kg and these felt the most pain in terms of lower prices. They sold mainly from €825 to close on €900/head. Last year, the equivalent bull would easily have made over €1,000/head, according to Ger.
The majority of the bull sale was dominated by good-quality 350kg to 380kg continental bulls. Again this year, the quality on offer was very high and this was a credit to the suckler farmers who sold cattle at the sale. The sale itself was slower than last year also, with auctioneers having to work harder to get bids and sell cattle.
Prices for bulls from 350kg to 380kg ranged mainly from €750/head to €850/head. Plainer and lighter bulls sold from €600/head upwards, with some farmers choosing not to sell at current prices.
Ger said that undoubtedly with strong supplies of silage, there is an element that some suckler farmers are only selling some of the better weanlings at the moment and may be keeping lighter calves and plainer calves until after Brexit or into the spring in the hopes that the trade will recover.
In addition, he said that some buyers are also holding off on buying cattle and weanlings until November in order to see where the beef market at live trade might go.
Weanling heifers were a little tougher than bulls, but overall numbers on offer were low. Again, the best-quality types from 350kg to 380kg were making from €700 to €800/head.
There were a few bucket-reared Angus and Hereford calves on offer also. The best of these were January and early February calves that were weighing over 250kg and these sold from €490/head to €550/head at the top of the market.
Ger said that the same calf last year would have been making from €600 to €650/head. Commission rates for adult cattle are €1.5% to the seller with an entry fee of €2.50 and a minimum charge of €9.50/head and €9 to the buyer.