Camera at the Mart: factory demand drives fat stock prices in Castleisland

There was a super turnout of cattle at the annual fatstock show in Castleisland Mart on Wednesday last and the appetite for stock saw all bar two of the 878 cattle on offer sold.

There was solid demand right throughout the sale, with strong competition for forward cattle, which resulted in a lift in prices.

That price increase filtered through buyers showing a good appetite for lighter 2025-born stores also.

Traditional beef breed-crosses aged over two years were generally trading for around the €3.50/kg mark, with up to €3.85/kg available for choice lots.

The top end of heavy Angus-cross bullocks were making €3.50 too, while up to €4/kg was available for Charolais-crosses.

The champion of the show, a February 2024-born Limousin-cross bullock owned by Tom O’Sullivan, received the highest price of €4,000 (€4.57/kg).

Reserve champion went to Finbar Twomey, Leap, Co Cork, for his Belgian Blue-cross heifer. Born in November 2024, she weighed 606kg and sold for €3,620 (€5.97/kg).

Big lift

Following the sale, mart manager Neilus McAuliffe said: “The lighter polly bullocks were making from €3.50/kg up to €4/kg. They were the ones that got the biggest lift. Heifers then were a small shade back from their equivalent in the bullocks.

"We had a good share of coloured cows and they were making from €2.90/kg to €3.35/kg and a good fat Friesian cow would make €3/kg and more in cases.

"All bar two were sold and it was our biggest sale to date in the fall of the year. Usually, it brings out the top end of the cattle and there was a fair lift in price too.

"Store cattle were up €50 to €70 and even €100 in cases on a fortnight ago. Factories are very anxious for beef and we had a few northern buyers present and they were very anxious altogether and that’s a good sign. That really drove on the prices for heavy cattle.

"We’re seeing that filter back to younger stock too. We had a few more farmers back at Monday’s sale, those that sold two- and a half-year-old stock or 18-month-olds and they were back to buy at the weanling sale, so we’re seeing the lift in price across them already.

"Everyone is buying at the moment. We’ve had a good burst of grass in Kerry in the last fortnight and farmers are buying accordingly. Now grass is coming and there’s a lot more people out to buy.”

Despite the big number of cattle, progress was steady with a selection of big lots going through the ring.

“We’d have a lot of big lots here and we’d sell a lot of cattle in groups from five to 10 or more. Farmers seem to prefer that rather than just get one animal. You’d see farmers get very active bidding on those bigger lots.”