The mart continues to perform strongly this week, but may have adjusted a little from the dizzy heights reached two or three weeks ago.
Big numbers coming out over the last two weeks has meant buyers have had a little more to choose from and, in turn, plainer types are a little easier bought this week.
A large gap has opened up between the top end and lower end of cattle in terms of quality.
Speaking to a few mart managers this week, there appears to be a lot more customers for the better types this week.
The biggest price gap is evident in lighter bull calves.
If we look at the 200kg to 300kg weight category of bull calves this week, we see that the top-end calves are coming in at €2.96/kg, while the lower end of calves, which are dominated by dairy-crosses, came in at €2.23/kg. That’s a difference of 73c/kg or €182/head on a 250kg weanling.
The general run of differences between the top-quality bull and heifer weanlings and the lower-quality weanlings is coming in around 50c/kg. This comes into €175/head on a 350kg weanling.
Northern Ireland customers continue to be very active around marts and remain very strong for heavy, slaughter-fit cows and forward store bullocks and heifers.
A huge gap has also opened up in the cow trade. Good-quality suckler-bred cows are still a very solid trade, with up to €2.40/kg being paid in some marts this week for heavy well-fleshed cows. At the other end of the sale, parlour cows lacking in both flesh and weight have taken a big hit in recent weeks, with fewer customers willing to take a punt on the lower-quality cows.
Lighter Jersey-crosses have sold for as low as 70c/kg this week, with some cows going home unsold out marts due to poorer demand.
The 2023 autumn milk price is lower than 2022 and with nitrates issues on some farms looming, dairy farmers are offloading earlier than normal this year.
Taking a look at this week’s Martbids analysis table, we see a lot of red arrows, highlighting a reduction in prices this week, but on closer examination many of the weight and quality categories have seen very small changes.
The heifer trade is relatively stable, with the top-end 400kg to 500kg heifer coming in at €2.84/kg this week.
Heavier heifers over 600kg in the same quality category came in at €2.80/kg this week.
It was a similar story in the bullocks rings, with top-end 500kg to 600kg bullocks coming in at €2.97/kg this week, unchanged from last week.
In the weanling rings, the trade saw a slighter bigger drop. Top-quality 300kg to 400kg weanling bulls continue to be an exceptional trade, with these animals coming in at €3.55/kg this week.
Average calves in the same weight category were selling at €3.10/kg.
In the heifer rings, heavy weanling heifers were the pick of the week with top-quality heifers in the 400kg to 450kg weight bracket selling at €3.57/kg this week, an increase of 11c/kg on the previous week..
Top-quality heifers in the 300kg to 400kg weight bracket came in at €3.37/kg this week, a similar trade to last week.
