Over 250 heifers and 400 bullocks were booked in for Thursday’s general cattle sale in Kilkenny mart.

Mart manager Michael Lynch said numbers were “still relatively strong but there has been a slight drop in the last two weeks”.

He added that “this time last year, we were much busier with the late spring but the good spring this year brought everything forward”.

Speaking on the news of a €100m fund for Irish beef farmers, Lynch said “confidence is what drives the trade and the news is certainly something that will give beef farmers a bit of confidence after a tough spring”.

Michael Lynch, Kilkenny Mart manager.

Heifers

Table 1 gives a full breakdown of the heifer prices from the sale.

With 252 heifers going under the hammer this week, the overall price was up 27c/kg for the week to €2.03/kg. The biggest jump in price was evident for top-quality heifers, with prices jumping 51c/kg to cross the €2.80/kg mark. Poorer-quality mainly dairy crosses averaged €1.61/kg.

Looking across the different weight bands, lighter good-quality heifers met with some strong demand. Heifers from 350kg to 400kg averaged €2.53/kg, but better-quality lots were breaking the €3.20/kg mark.

In the 400-500kg bracket, even better prices were recorded. Eighty heifers averaged €2.56/kg but once again, better-quality continentals were on fire, breaking €3.30/kg regularly. That’s a 94c/kg jump on last week.

Lots from 500-600kg and over 600kg averaged €1.86/kg and €1.17/kg respectively.

Bullocks

Trade was much more tentative around the bull ring and there was value to be had. Table 2 gives a full breakdown of prices from the sale.

A total of 394 bullocks averaged €2.06/kg, a drop of €0.12/kg on the previous week’s sale.

Light bullocks were down the most. Those in the 350-400kg bracket fell almost 30c/kg to average €1.88/kg, the lowest price paid for any category of bullock.

Bullocks from 400kg to 500kg and 500kg to 600kg were also back, but not as much. These averaged €2.18/kg and €2.09/kg respectively.

Steers over 600kg averaged €2.10/kg, with the tops commanding a price of around €2.40/kg.

Kilkenny mart

Currently, commission rates are €10 to the buyer and between €11 and €15 to the seller depending on lot size.

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.