Martbids Database: mart trade remains very firm

Another good week has taken the pressure off farmers housing cattle or heading to the mart with weanlings.

Numbers continue to move out on a steady basis, with no big gluts of weanlings being seen in any marts around the country.

The next two to three weeks are the busiest few weeks for weanling sales in the year.

There was some concern this week that with the Shorthorn Express not sailing it would affect the trade, but it had no effect and the weanling trade continues to drive on.

The Shorthorn Express set sail for Morocco on Thursday with a full load of over 2,500 cattle - a mixture of stores and weanlings.

The ship had been delayed due to the possibility of a storm affecting its journey.

The Department of Agriculture is quite strict on whether to load the ship if there are any storms forecast.

Other Irish-based exporters are also very active buying weanlings for a number of jobs in eastern Europe, with lorries also being filled for Morocco on roll-on roll-off lorries via France.

Farmers have also started to move out and they too have a very strong hand on the back of a stable beef price. Industry sources would suggest that the beef price will kick on before the end of 2024 and this is also helping farmer confidence.

Finished heavy cattle coming off grass at the moment are coming into €2,000-plus, so that leaves these finishers with a strong hand when they are out replacing them.

Taking a look at this week’s Martbids analysis, we see that it was another steady week for the trade.

Bullocks came in at a similar trade to the previous week. Top-quality bullocks in the 400kg to 500kg weight bracket came in at €3.10/kg, a similar price to last week. Heavier bullocks were also in demand, with factories out in force again this week filling feedlots.

Aberdeen Angus and Hereford bullocks in the 400kg to 500kg weight bracket have hit as high as €2.50/kg in marts this week.

Better-quality Friesian bullocks are also in demand, with as high as €2.35/kg being paid for good types in the south of the country.

Heifers also had a good week’s trading, with most categories seeing a lift in price when compared with the previous week.

Heavy heifers over 600kg were up 4c/kg this week to €3.11/kg, while heifers in the 500kg to 600kg weight bracket came in at €3.22/kg, up 14c/kg on the previous week.

Plainer dairy-beef heifers came in around €2.20/kg to €2.50/kg.

In the weanling rings, there was a little softening in the bull trade, with weanling bulls in the 300kg to 400kg weight bracket coming in at €3.85/kg this week, back 12c/kg on the previous week.

Average bull weanlings in the 400kg to 450kg weight bracket came in at €3.23/kg.

The weanling heifer trade saw a slight improvement, with top-quality heifers in the 300kg to 400kg weight bracket coming in at €3.77/kg this week, up 12c/kg on the previous week.

Dairy-cross heifers in the 200kg to 300kg weight bracket came in at €2.42/kg this week.