It’s been another very busy week in marts this week, with mart managers reporting some big sales over the last seven days on the back of poorer weather conditions and housing taking place in a lot of western areas.

Exporters are back around the rings again this week, with a few very hungry for stock.

The closure of the French border and a ban on French live exports due to lumpy skin disease is expected to drive Italian demand for Irish weanlings as the French weanlings are now longer an option for them during the ban.

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Some mart managers also commented that this week could be the last of the big sales, with many expecting a big drop-off as we enter into November and December, especially across the weanling categories.

A few also noted the rise in the number of light weanlings being sold. This is mainly being driven by the price, with some farmers who would have normally kept weanlings over the winter months now choosing to sell these at a lighter weight and avoid the cost of over-wintering them.

This could mean weanling availability will be a lot tighter in spring 2026 when some farmers traditionally buy in weanlings for summer grazing.

The in-calf heifer trade continues to hit new heights, with some exceptional prices being paid at specialist sales over the last few weeks. These sales will always command the highest prices, but average heifers are coming close to €4,000/head now.

It’s great to see such confidence in the sector and hopefully 2025 will be the year where we can stabilise suckler cow numbers.

Younger farmers are now looking at suckling as being a real income earner to run alongside a part-time job, something which probably couldn’t be said in years gone by.

You can almost feel the positivity again around mart rings, as farmers shoot it out for breeding stock.

Clare marts had a big entry of 891 cattle at Tuesday’s weanling sale, with mart manager Martin McNamara reporting bulls up 8c to 10c/kg on the previous week, with heifers up 5c to 10c/kg.

A small sale of suck calves saw a one-month-old Limousin heifer calf hit €900. Reports from around the country are that dropped calves are in big demand, with three- to four- week-old Hereford and Aberdeen Angus calves hitting €500 to €600/head on a regular basis.

Taking a look at this week’s Martbids analysis table, we can see more green arrows than red ones, especially in the bullock and bull weanling categories.

Top-quality bullocks in the 500kg to 600kg weight bracket, were up 13c/kg this week to €5.19/kg.

Average-quality bullocks in the same weight bracket came in 7c/kg higher this week.

Heifers were back a touch, with heavy heifers over 600kg back 8c/kg this week to €4.90/kg. Bull weanlings had a very solid week with 200kg to 300kg bulls up 10c/kg to €6.77/kg this week.

Poorer-quality weanling bulls seen one of the biggest increases this week with 300kg to 400kg Friesian and Aberdeen Angus bulls coming in at €4.91/kg this week, up 16c/kg on the previous week.