It’s been another very positive week in the mart trade, with prices continuing to kick on in marts, with dairy-beef weanlings coming in at a particularly strong price this week.

Factory agents continue to dominate the trade for heavy cattle, with cull cows and finished cattle sold in marts still making over and above what they would make in factories.

The high demand for manufacturing beef has driven cull cow prices to new highs also, with €3/kg now common for top-quality heavy cull cows.

Ennis Mart had over 600 head through the rings. Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Clare Mart’s Martin McNamara said: “Weanlings were an exceptional trade, with bull weanlings up 5c to 10c/kg on last week, with heifer weanlings up 10c/kg on the last week. So €4/kg has become the new normal for top-quality young weanlings.”

Top call in the weanling ring went to a pair of Limousin weanling bulls weighing 422kg and selling for €2,020 (€4.78/kg). Top call in the heifer ring went to a 270kg Charolais heifer weanling selling for €1,370 (€5.07/kg).

Suckler cow-and-calf outfits were also in demand, with a nice suckler cow and calf hitting €4,420 on Tuesday.

Moving north of the border, Clogher Mart in Co Tyrone had a massive entry of over 1,600 cattle in its general cattle sale last Saturday, with fat cattle being the highlight of the trade.

Finished cattle remain in very short supply in Northern Ireland (NI) , with factory agents very hungry for stock in NI marts.

Limousin bullocks weighing 720kg hit €4.14/kg in Saturday’s sale. Cull cows were an exceptional trade, with €4.07/kg being paid for a young Charolais cow weighing 710kg.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, mart manager Robert Simpson said: “There is an unbelievable demand for stock up here at the moment, with factories driving the trade.”

Live exporters continue to light up the mart trade, with 2024’s high demand continuing into 2025.

The Shorthorn Express docked and unloaded its load of dairy heifers in Algeria last week and is on her way back to Ireland for a load of store beef cattle and weanlings for the first of what is anticipated to be many loads to be shipped to north Africa in 2025.

Taking a look at this week’s Martbids table, it’s another week being dominated by green arrows, which is always a good sign of the trade.

The bullock rings saw gains all across the board, with lighter bullocks in the 350kg to 400kg weight category seeing the highest rises this week.

Top-quality bullocks in the 350kg to 400kg weight bracket came in at €3.71/kg this week.

Heavy bullocks were up 5c to 12c/kg on the previous week. Heavy heifers were back a little on the week, with those in the 600kg-plus weight category coming in at €3.88/kg.

Moving to the weanling rings, top-quality bulls in the 300kg to 400kg weight bracket came in at €4.14/kg, a new high.

Average-quality weanlings in the same popular weight bracket came in at €3.58/kg.

Heifer weanlings also saw another great week’s trading, with top-quality heifers in the 300kg to 400kg weight bracket coming in at €4.04/kg.

Lower quality heifers in the 300kg to 400kg weight bracket came in at €2.99/kg.