Mart numbers continue to rise this week, with some very large marts reported across the country in the last seven days. While better weather this week has relieved some pressure on farms, last week’s rain saw higher numbers coming to marts as farmers moved cattle off land.

Good quality store cattle are still meeting very good demand from factory agents and larger feeders. Poorer quality types are probably still fairing worst in the trade, but have steadied a little over the last seven days.

The replacement heifer trade is the talk of the country at the moment, with both maiden heifers and in-calf heifers meeting an exceptional trade.

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Ballybay mart had a special sale of 39 high-end in-calf heifers last Friday night, with the sale topping out at €11,500 for an in-calf Belgian Blue heifer. The sale averaged a massive €6,030/head.

Suckler interest

A good cull cow trade is driving some of the demand and higher prices, but there is also a renewed interest out there in sucklers, especially from younger people.

The weanling trade is also helping the replacement heifer prices, with top quality weanlings now making between €2,000-€2,500/head.

Top quality replacement heifers also seem to be in short supply, with very few ordinary farmers selling good heifers and opting instead to hold on to them for breeding.

This has left many looking to the special sales that are taking place in the next few weeks. Average quality in-calf heifers are now in the region of €3,000-€4,000, with good heifers trading in the €4,000-€5,000/head range. Top quality heifers are crossing the €5,000/head mark in sales.

Cows with calves at foot are also meeting big demand. Drumshanbo mart saw a cow with a Belgian Blue bull calf at foot selling for €5,550 last Friday night.

Taking a look at this week’s martbids analysis table, we see that both bullocks and heifers saw a relatively positive week’s trading, while bull weanlings took a check in price in marts this week.

Bullocks

In the bullock rings, top quality bullocks in the 500-600kg weight bracket were a similar trade to last week coming in at €5.14/kg.

Heavier bullocks in the same quality bracket over 600kg were back a touch to €4.69/kg this week.

Poorer quality Aberdeen Angus and Herefords from the dairy herd in the 350-400kg weight bracket were back 11 cent/kg this week to €3.59/kg.

Heavy heifers met big demand this week, with top quality 500-600kg heifers hitting €5.26/kg up 38 cent/kg on the previous week.

Average quality heifers in the 500-600kg weight bracket came in at €4.47/kg this week, up 16 cent/kg on the previous week. Lighter store heifers met an easier demand this week, with top quality heifers in the 350-400kg weight bracket coming in at €4.86/kg, back 21 cent/kg on the previous week.

Bull weanlings took the biggest hit this week with lighter bulls and heavier bull weanlings seeing the biggest drop.

Bulls in the 300-400kg weight bracket saw a steady trade with top quality bulls in the 300-400kg weight bracket coming in at €6.69/kg, a similar trade to last week.

Heavier bulls in the 450kg weight bracket were back by 27-29 cent/kg on the previous week.

Heifer weanlings met a steadier demand with top quality heifers in the 300-400kg weight bracket coming in at €6.31/kg this week.