Both cattle numbers and buyer activity were thwarted at Tuesday’s general cattle in Nenagh.

Mart manager Michael Harty said: “Numbers are definitely back this week and last week.

"It’s to be expected really – people are busy with the fine weather.

"To be honest, with the excellent spring, numbers were out earlier and most have their cattle bought at this stage.”

On trade, Harty said that “it was definitely a little shaky today, for probably the first time this spring”.

He added that “some lots were certainly a lot harder to shift, so clearance rates were down too”.

Looking at the animals in the mart in recent weeks, Harty noted that “a lot have plenty of weight on them due to the early turnout and good growth this spring”.

Michael Harty, mart manager.

Summing up, the vast majority of cattle on the day were dairy-cross cattle, as is the norm in Nenagh, and that should be considered when looking at the prices.

Even still, it was certainly a buyer’s market, with €2.00/kg the general running in both the bull and heifer rings.

Bulls and bullocks

Prices were back 10c/kg on last week’s sale, with a total of 75 males averaging just over €1.80/kg.

Table 1 gives a full breakdown of prices.

Lighter bulls and bullocks were the hardest hit this week, with those in the 350kg to 400kg weight band averaging €1.61/kg, with Freisians down at the €1.40/kg mark.

A price closer to €2.00/kg was within reach for the small number of continentals in the ring.

Thirty bulls in the 400kg to 500kg category averaged €1.87/kg, meaning €900/head was enough to buy most.

Better-quality continental dairy-crosses hit over the €2.00/kg mark, but very few animals crossed the €1,000/head mark.

The heavier lots over 500kg faired out similar at about €950/head for moderate quality and €1,050 to €1,100 for the top continental crosses.

Heifers

Commenting on the heifer trade, Harty, who also manages the Birr and Roscrea livestock marts, said that “the heifer trade has been flying in recent weeks, with the nice-quality continentals in and around 400kg making in excess of €1,000/head consistently".

At Tuesday’s sale in Nenagh, the overall average for 41 heifers was €2.06/kg, which is up 25c/kg.

Table 2 gives a full breakdown of prices by quality and weight.

Consistent with Harty’s comments, and with what was evident in Kilkenny Mart last week, those in the 400kg to 500kg weight band met with a lively trade.

The average was €2.41/kg, but the smaller number of high-quality animals got more than €2.70/kg.

Calves

In the calf ring, prices were solid. Angus-crosses made from €120 to €180, with a few stronger lots topping out at €200/head.

Hereford-crosses ranged from €120 to €190 for heifers and €150 to €240 for bulls.

A nice Belgian Blue-cross bull calf made €250 and his comrade, a heifer, made the exact same price.

Nenagh Mart

Commision rates are €10 to €15 to the seller and €9 to the buyer.

Analysis for this report was generated from the MartBids app. MartBids is a collaboration between the Irish Farmers Journal and livestock marts. The app is available for download on iPhone or Android on the App Store or Google Play. With this app, all of the information that is displayed on the mart board is now available on your smartphone, long before the animal enters the sales ring.