Strong shipper demand is driving the price for top-quality weanlings upwards, as the 2026 autumn weanling trade kicks off.
An average price of €6.04/kg was paid for the top third of bulls at the autumn-born weanling sale in Iveragh Co-op Mart in Co Kerry this week, a lift of 50c/kg or €175/head on 2025.
Exporters snapped up 63% of bull weanlings at the Cahersiveen venue, but trade was tougher on the home market, with almost €2/kg of a difference in the average price between the top and bottom third of bulls.
That gap between the home and overseas trade highlighted the importance of live shipping to the weanling trade said manager, Mike Kissane.
“Heavier and plainer bulls were a tougher trade. Farmers that are feeding those bulls for the factories have lost confidence because of what they did this spring and the money they lost,” he said.
It’s seen as a positive start to the trade and comes as a boatload of 2,000 continental bulls, put together by Cows.ie, left the country for Algeria on Tuesday. Shippers are all very active, sourcing weanlings across the country and are believed to be organising further loads for the European mainland and North Africa together at present.
Beef price
Meanwhile, the beef trade continues to rocket, with base quotes increasing by 20c/kg in some cases this week. Factory agents are scrambling for supplies in marts and in finisher yards. Base quotes for heifers have moved to €6.70/kg in some factories, with flat prices of as high as €7.50/kg being paid this week.
A perfect storm of an England World Cup quarter-final at the weekend, a record low beef kill for July and barbecue weather for the next 10 days, have seen a big lift in quotes.
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