Mart managers are reporting strong demand from exporters vying for weanlings as numbers begin to increase with spring-born calves coming onto the market, while farmer buyers are reportedly not as active.
Gortatlea Mart manager Maurice Brosnan noted: “Weanlings are back a tiny bit [at our sales] but not back anything back like the price of beef cattle. I’d have a slight concern going forward that if the shippers don’t keep going when the numbers of weanlings come out that price will go backwards.”
Some leading exporters have publicly stated that they are unable to shoulder sickness and mortality rates in weanlings in the peak pneumonia season and will be withdrawing from sales come early October.
North Africa has been an outlet for many of these weanling bulls, with one major exporter understood to be currently in quarantine with an order of 2,000 Irish bull weanlings with the demand from these exports resulting in weanling price continuing to outperform store bullock price. MartBids analysis this week sees an average quality bullock weighing 470kg at €1,757.80 at €3.74/kg, a reduction in price of €347.80/head on the same period last year.
In comparison, this week we see average quality bulls 300-400kg coming in at €4.95/kg. At 330kg, this puts this less than 12-month-old animal at €1,633.60, 140kg lighter than our above store but just €94 in the difference between the two.
The above bull weanling has dropped 70c/kg in price over the last year, a difference of €231/head at the above weight. MartBids analysis shows that while weanling numbers remain on par with 2025 levels, store heifer and bullock numbers have slid dramatically, with a reduction of 38% seen in heifers weighing 400 to 500kg, while bullocks of the same weight have dropped by 47% compared to the same week last year.
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