Camera at the mart: over 1,000 calves on offer in Bandon

Calf numbers doubled compared to last week with 1,021 calves going through the ring at Bandon Mart for this Monday’s sale.

About three quarters of all the calves on offer had either Friesian or Angus on the card with Hereford falling into third place in terms of the numbers.

One in four calves were Friesian bulls and trade for them has held very strong.

Sexed semen means they’re not as commonplace as they were and last year their numbers tailed off rapidly in mid-March, so buyers are competing well this year to ensure they get what they want.

All the prices below are for calves that are aged less than six weeks.

Most export-type Friesian bulls sold for between €100 to €180, with most tending to make from €140 to €160.

Stronger Friesian bull calves were breaking €200 freely with up to €285. They mainly tended to be calves over 65kg and over one month old.

Angus-crosses

A share of lighter Friesians sold for under €100 late on in the sale and these were closer to or under 50kg.

Angus-crosses weren’t a million miles behind Friesians in terms of numbers and prices for them and Hereford-crosses were very similar. At the upper end of the trade, while a good few shot the lights out, there was still value to be got.

As a general guide, traditional beef breed-crosses and continental-crosses over 65kg were making in excess of €300 and those closer to 80kg were mostly making close to or over €400.

Lighter ones under 65kg could be purchased for similar prices as Friesian bulls.

At the upper end of prices for continental-cross calves, €500 to €605 was available.

Beef calves that came from either Friesian-cross of Jersey-cross dams tended to make similar prices as Friesian bulls. For the most part Friesian-cross bull calves were making under €100. Lighter calves of this cross were making €30 to €60 but a number of heavier calves fell into similar money to Friesian bulls.

Who else is bidding against you and how badly they want the calves is as much a factor in determining the final price as the age and weight of the calves this spring it appears.

Outliers

While the above prices are a guide on what was on offer, there were notable outliers. The following were all three-weeks old. A bunch of Hereford-cross bulls weighing 74kg made €500/head, a trio of Friesian bulls weighing 64kg made €280/head and you could nearly throw a 38kg Angus-cross bull that made €180 into the mix of unexpected prices too.

There were exceptions to the general trends with dairy-cross bull calves too. A Friesian-cross weighing 73kg made €225, at the opposite end of the trade, a 39kg Friesian bull made €5.

In pictures