The mart trade continues to work off a very steady keel this week, with weanlings being the highlight. The standout weanling sale this week was in Kilfenora in Co Clare. It’s the home of the golden Charolais and weanlings were met with exceptional demand.
The mart trade continues to work off a very steady keel this week, with weanlings being the highlight.
The standout weanling sale this week was in Kilfenora in Co Clare. It’s the home of the golden Charolais and weanlings were met with exceptional demand.
Weanlings hit over €4/kg on several occasions, with the top call going to a February 2024-born Charolais bull weighing 320kg and selling for €1,680 (€5.25/kg).
Store cattle also saw a good week, with factory agents now driving the trade for forward store cattle.
Factories are filling feedlots in anticipation of a lull in cattle supplies in the run-up to Christmas.
Elphin Mart had a special sale of beef heifers on Wednesday which were met by good demand both south and north of the border, with a lot of heavy heifers crossing the €3/kg mark.
News that a very large customer from Morocco is in the country this week meeting Irish exporters will be welcomed by farmers. The buyer met with a number of different exporters and is understood to be looking to source Irish cattle in the very near future.
Another load
The Shorthorn Express docked in Casablanca Port in Morocco last week with a load of Irish store cattle and is already back in Greenore Port to load again with another load destined for north African shores.
It’s understood that it will return for another load again once unloaded next week.
There have been 280,151 cattle exported in the first eight months of 2024. This brings the number of cattle leaving the country to 5% ahead of 2023 levels when compared with the same period, with good numbers of cattle continuing to leave the country on a weekly basis.
Tightening cattle supplies across Europe and disease implications have all contributed to this steady demand for Irish animals.
Taking a look at this week’s Irish Farmers Journal Martbids analysis table, we see that weanlings saw a very positive week of trading.
Top-quality bull weanlings in the 300kg to 400kg weight bracket crossed the €4/kg mark for the first time in a number of weeks. Average-quality bulls in the same weight bracket came in at €3.40/kg.
Heavier bulls in the 400kg to 450kg weight bracket also met good demand this week, with top-quality bulls hitting €3.93/kg, up 36c/kg on the previous week.
Average bulls in the same weight bracket came in at €3.39/kg, up 27c/kg on the previous week.
The weanling heifer rings also saw good demand this week, with top-quality heifers in the popular 300kg to 400kg weight bracket coming in at €3.18/kg, up 39c/kg on the previous week.
Store cattle were a similar trade to the previous week, with heavy bullocks up a slight touch.
Bullocks over 600kg came in at €3.13/kg this week, an improvement of 9c/kg on last week.
Bullocks in the 500kg to 600kg weight bracket were also up between 3c and 7c/kg across all quality types. Store and finished heifers were also a similar trade to last week.
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