A total of 1,650 calves went through the calf ring at Bandon Mart on Monday, up 150 head on 2022.

Depending on the weight of calf you had, trade blew hot or cold.

Demand for calves over 60kg continued where it left off last week, while sailing cancellations and rough seas led to difficult market conditions for export-type Friesian bull calves and lighter beef-crosses under 60kg.

Weather has been relatively settled for the 2023 calf selling season to date and calves have moved in good numbers at reasonable prices.

Strong winds

Friesian bull prices dropped on average by about €7/head last week and the strong winds over the weekend didn't help.

With more wind forecast over the coming days, it means exporters have a very limited chance of getting calves to the continent this week and this has had an impact on trade for the type of calf that shippers buy.

Friesian bulls under 60kg were generally making from €5 up to €30. Lighter beef-crosses of all breeds under 45kg were largely falling into the same price bracket and a share of both dairy and beef calves sold for below this range.

Hoever, it's not all bad news and trade for all other calves wasn’t as affected to the same extent.

Very active

Often, when shipping calf price slips, so does the price for heavier Friesian bulls (over 65kg and under six weeks of age). That didn’t happen at this Monday’s sale, with these making from €80 up to €160, as farmer buyers were very active for them.

At a similar price range were the middle rank of traditional beef-cross calves, with those closing in on 60kg breaking €200.

The top end of the trade saw Angus- and Hereford-crosses giving continental-crosses a good run for their money.

Across bulls and heifers, up to €370 was paid for traditional beef breed-crosses over 65kg.

In a sale where they were fairly scarce, heavy continental-cross calves made up to €385.