"It's steady as she goes at the moment" according to Bandon Mart manager Tom McCarthy after this week’s trade in Bandon at a sale which saw 2,000 calves go through the ring.

"Trade was similar enough to last week, with prices holding fairly firm despite the climb in numbers."

It was a fair commentary on what was a busy day in the calf ring.

The shipping Friesian bull calf was generally trading for between €25 and €90 for forward export calves.

The stronger Friesian bull calves favoured by farmer buyers were making up to €170, with a good proportion making €90 to €130. Friesian heifer calves sold for up to €265.

Beef-crosses

The traditional beef breed-cross calves were a steady trade. Angus and Hereford calves generally made from €115 to €385 for both bull types, while heifer prices went from €101 to €305 this week.

Beef-cross calves that appear to come from a crossbred dairy background made similar money to Friesian bull calves.

Continental calves are always in good demand in this week’s sale - bulls sold up to €450, while heifers made up to €385.

Efforts within the dairy sector to highlight the importance of good calves being presented at marts is noticeable in the pens this year.

There remains a very small proportion of bull calves selling from €1 to €20. Most of these have extreme dairy breeding and the farmer buyer is not in the market for these.

As a result, prices for these can come under pressure, especially when calf numbers are high.

Thursday calf sale

Bandon held its first Thursday calf sale of the year last week in conjunction with the weekly dairy sale.

"We had 250 calves on Thursday's sale and these were predominantly shipping Friesian bull calves," said Tom.

"There was a good turnout of Friesian heifer calves and there was good demand. They made up to €340. Demand was good, especially for those calves with records.

"The dairy sale itself went well, with a strong demand for calved heifers. They were making up to €1,600 on the day."

Pictures from the sale