There was solid demand across the board for calves in Carnew Mart at the Co Wicklows mart’s calf sale on Friday last.

It certainly was the place to go for farmers on the lookout for beef-cross calves, with almost 90% of the 647 calves on offer sired by a beef breed bull.

Hereford-crosses held the upper hand, with 169 on offer, but four out of every 10 calves at the sale were sired by a continental beef breed bull.

Manager David Quinn suggested this could be the legacy of those who converted to dairy from sucklers.

“Those stronger beef calves were making between €500 and €650 and at the top end of the trade, they were making over €700 and an odd few over €800.

Busy spring

“Spring has been very busy, numbers have been good and our calf sales are running about 20% up on last year.

“Prices are a bit different to last year when they started and grew, but this year, they started high and have eased since the middle of March.

“We had three peak weeks with over 1,000 calves. The prices are drawing farmers out and they got into the habit of selling late calves last year and if the prices stay strong like they did last year, I can see numbers holding well into early May.

“Prices for calves have held well - the good calf has been very dear, but that lighter heifer calf, if the selection drops a little, prices for them might harden.

“Friesian numbers are back now, but the good ones were making €300 to €400, which compared to last year is a good 35% to 40% ahead.

“Lighter ones were making from the high-€100s to low-€200 mark, with plenty of farmer and exporter demand for them.”