With the bulk of the Friesian bull calves gone through the ring already this year, trade remained similar to last week in the Easter bank holiday calf sale in Bandon mart.

Angus and Hereford made up the bulk of the 1,430 calves on offer this week and trade for them followed a similar pattern to last week.

Looking at it on paper, the prices varied widely for traditional beef breed cross calves but delving deeper into it, the reasons for the differences could be seen.

Weight was the big driver. Both bull and heifer calves over 75kg had the best chance of breaking the €200 barrier and price rose the closer they got to 100kg.

These two-month-old bull calves had an average weight of 73kg and sold for €175 each.

These three-week-old bull calves had an average weight of 61kg and sold for €130 each.

These five-week-old bull calves had an average weight of 70kg and sold for €260.

These month-old bull calves weighed 71kg and sold for €120.

These 10-week-old bull calves had an average weight of 80kg and sold for €75 each.

These five-week-old bull calf weighed 97kg and sold for €310.

These five-week-old bull calves had an average weight of 58kg and sold for €55 each.

These five-week-old Simmental heifer weighed 130kg and sold for €400.

This five-week-old bull calf weighed 81kg and sold for €265.

The top performers made over €300 but the number of these was much smaller than a month ago. For the calves in the 55kg to 70kg bracket, €90 to 170 was the going rate, while calves under 55kg didn’t break the €100 mark too often. The lighter ones sold anywhere from €70 back to €20.

There was a larger turnout of continentals compared to most of this year’s sales. The bulk of those from Friesian cows sold for between €200 and €500.

The top price of €500 went to a bunch of month-old Simmental bulls.

These six-week-old bull calves had an average weight of 68kg and sold for €80 each.

These five-week-old bull calves had an average weight of 68kg and sold for €200 each.

These one-month-old heifer calves had an average weight of 75kg and sold for €285 each.

This one-month-old bull calf weighed 67kg and sold for €100.

These one-month-old heifer calves had an average weight of 67kg and sold for €220 each.

These three-month-old bull calves had an average weight of 139kg and sold for €245 each.

These one-month-old bull calves had an average weight of 63kg and sold for €160.

This six-week-old bull calf weighed 92kg and sold for €335.

This five-week-old Limousin bull calf weighed 85kg and sold for €310.

This month-old bull calf weighed 66kg and sold for €150.

These five-week-old bull calves had an average weight of 51kg and sold for €50.

Friesians

There was a sprinkling of Friesian bull calves on offer and trade was relatively similar to last week. Calves around six weeks of age or younger were making from €130 back to €30. The higher prices were paid on the more forward calves over 75kg and coming close to weaning. There were some three-month-old calves weighing in excess of 130kg and these were making close to €1.80/kg.

There was a selection of Friesian heifer calves suitable for breeding on offer and these sold for between €100 and €230. This was back considerably on the same time last year.