Camera at the Mart: exporters dominate bull weanling trade in Skibbereen

There was close to a full clearance at Skibbereen Mart on Friday last as the west Cork venue hosted a special weanling section along with its regular weekly sale.

Taking place the day before news broke that there was a case of bluetongue detected in Co Wexford, trade for weanlings was red hot, with exporters particularly active.

There were roughly 200 bulls on offer and exporters accounted for over three quarters of those.

Charolais- and Limousin-crosses made up over half of the weanlings present and up to €6.42/kg was paid out, with bulls weighing from 300kg to 400kg especially well sought after.

Most in that weight range sold for between €5/kg and €6/kg, with some that weighed 450kg or over towards the lower end of the price-per-kilo range.

Weaning heifers

Marginally back on bull prices, there was no shortage for weanling heifers too, with many farmers opting for those instead of bulls.

A good proportion of these sold for between €4.10/kg and €5.10/kg.

That demand wasn’t just confined to the suckler-bred weanlings either, as demand for bucket-reared stock was very solid.

An entry of 50 Angus- and Hereford-cross heifers sold over a few lots, with those weighing from 300kg to 350kg making anywhere from €4.50/kg to €5/kg.

Weanling strength

Mart manager Keith Mullaney introduced the late January weanling sale a number of years ago and it has gone from strength to strength.

Speaking after the sale, he said: “I was very happy with how things went. Exporters really drove the trade for bulls and between the two rings, there were only two animals that went unsold.

“Those shapey Limousins and Belgian Blues were getting into €6/kg and for Charolais, they were mainly making €5/kg to €5.50/kg depending on their weight.

“Sellers who announced that their stock were vaccinated got a bit extra too.

“People buying those cattle, especially for export, have got more confidence when they know the vaccination status of what they’re buying.

“Heifers were a great trade too and there was lots of farmer buyers for them.

“It was harder for them to compete for the bulls so a good few looked at the heifer option instead.”

He added that there continues to be strong demand from factory buyers for forward cows and Angus- and Hereford-cross forward stores and reported that trade for them was up slightly compared to the previous week.