The mart trade has eased another notch this week. A combination of increased numbers and a little more cautious approach to buying from feeders has seen some cattle drop back from where they were at the previous week.
Mart managers are also reporting that weanling exporters have eased a little on the last week in terms of buying and weanlings probably aren’t hitting the dizzy heights they were at a month ago.
Numbers of cattle being sold in marts has really ramped up this week, with some very big sales taking place, particularly in the west of the country.
Wetter weather has been part of the driver of these numbers and is probably playing into buyers’ hands a little.
All that said, top-quality cattle continue to command some great prices, with mart prices continuing to track €800 to €1,000/head over and above last year’s prices in September.
Taking a look at this week’s Martbids analysis table, we see that lighter store bullocks were back in price again, with poorer-quality bullocks back 10c/kg this week.
Friesian bullocks in the 400kg to 500kg weight bracket came in 12c/kg lower than last week at €3.70/kg.
Top-quality heavy bullocks in the 600kg-plus weight category came in a little better this week, up 7c/kg on the previous week at €4.77/kg.
Heavy heifers went in the other direction, with top-quality heifers over 600kg coming in 21c/kg lower than the previous week at €4.68/kg.
In the weanling rings, top-quality bull weanlings shifted down in price slightly, with top-quality bulls in the 300kg to 400kg weight bracket back 10c/kg this week to €6.69/kg.
Weanling heifers in the same weight and quality bracket improved by 19c/kg to €6.26/kg.
TB-restricted sale
Golden Vale’s Carrigallen Mart held a special TB-restricted sale last Monday, with almost 200 cattle being sold online for two farmers, one based in Co Roscommon and one based in Co Tipperary.
The animals that were sold were from restricted holdings, with all the animals presented for sale passing a TB test within the previous 30 days.
None of the animals moved off farm and instead were weighed and videoed on farm, with the sale being completed 100% online.
Only controlled finishing units were able to bid online for the cattle under Department of Agriculture TB rules.
The sale saw a top price of €4.08/kg for spring-born Aberdeen Angus bull calves weighing 200kg.
General prices ranged from €3.20/kg to €3.80/kg for Friesian bulls, with the majority of Hereford and Aberdeen Angus cattle selling for between €3.50/kg and €4.00/kg.
Commenting on the sale, mart manager Helen Kells said: “We were very happy with our first sale. It’s great to be able to offer this service to farmers, who, before this, felt they had very little options to sell their stock or get a fair price.
The rollout of our TB-restricted sale means that these farmers can get a fair price on a close-to-open market. We are hoping to have another sale in the next few weeks and anybody interested in should get in contact with us at the mart.”