The cattle trade continues to steam ahead, with both the weanling trade and store cattle trade seeing improvements in the last week. Heifers are not as hot as bullocks and bull weanlings, with extra exporter activity driving the prices for male cattle in mart rings. Factory feedlots have also moved out in force in the last two weeks, stocking up for a forecasted lull in supply in the run-up to the lucrative Christmas trade.
The cattle trade continues to steam ahead, with both the weanling trade and store cattle trade seeing improvements in the last week. Heifers are not as hot as bullocks and bull weanlings, with extra exporter activity driving the prices for male cattle in mart rings.
Factory feedlots have also moved out in force in the last two weeks, stocking up for a forecasted lull in supply in the run-up to the lucrative Christmas trade.
Good-quality Friesian bullocks in the 400kg to 500kg weight category hit as high as €2.30/kg this week in some southern marts on the back of big feeder demand.
A high-profile Moroccan cattle buyer was in Ireland earlier this month to meet with exporters and view the facilities. The visit went well with the first shipments of cattle expected to move out to the new customer next week. So far in 2024, 14,371 cattle have been exported to Morocco with the latest load of 2,500 cattle departing Greenore Port this weekend on the Shorthorn Express.
Weanling exports are running 45% ahead of 2023 levels, while store cattle exports are running a massive 63% ahead of 2023.
This year is shaping up to be a record year for Irish cattle exports, with 297,695 head of cattle exported up until the middle of September 2024, the highest in the last decade.
New markets for Irish dairy beef calves have also opened up with almost 4,000 making their way to Croatia this year, up from 70 during the same period in 2023.
Spain has also become a very important market for Irish calves with 70,873 exported to Spain in 2024.
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