Plenty of customers went home with empty trailers after Tuesday’s general cattle sale in Corrin Mart, according to manager Sean Leahy.

He acknowledged that numbers are a small bit down compared with a few weeks ago but a sharp rise in demand is driving prices upwards.

“The trade was mad today,” said Sean. “Demand just completely outstripped supply and prices are on fire as a result.”

He put much of the increased demand down to a large jump in the number of farmers buying cattle for grass.

“Grass seems to have exploded over the last week down here. Some farmers are even killing a few cattle off grass already and they’re coming out to re-stock.”

Popular

The most popular animals are lighter, Angus and Hereford cross bullocks and heifers.

“The 350-450kg Angus or Hereford cross is easily making €2/kg and over €2.20/kg for nicer quality,” he said.

“There are plenty of shippers competing with farmers for those types of stock too.”

Bullocks

Over 180 bullocks were sold on the day. Table 1 gives a full breakdown of prices.

Across all weight bands under 600kg, bullocks averaged around the €1.90/kg mark, with better-quality lots consistently getting a price of 30c/kg higher.

Those over 600kg averaged €1.80/kg with the tops pushing close €1.10/kg.

Heifers

Table 2 gives a full breakdown of heifer prices on the day.

Lighter, 350-400kg heifers were a great trade at €2/kg of an average and the tops coming into over €2.10/kg.

Heifers 400-500kg averaged €1.83/kg and quality pushed closer to the €2.20/kg mark.

Five-hundred to 600kg heifers averaged €1.61/kg and better-quality lots stayed just below €2/kg.

Sean Leahy.

Cows

Leahy said: “There is a much better trade for cull cows than we would have expected for this time of year.”

A lot of the cows sold on the day are coming out of the parlour.

Friesians started at just over €1/kg and better-fleshed lots climbed up to a top price of €1.40/kg. Per head, they sold for €630 to €1,080 with most well-conditioned cows making €200to €300 with their weight and longer-keep cows back at €100 to €150 with their weight.

A smaller number of Angus cross cows ranged from €1.50/kg to €1.80/kg for better-fleshed lots. Highest cow price on the day of €1,440 went to an 810kg, 2011-born Angus cross cow €1.78/kg.

The few continentals, Limousin and Charolais crosses made between €1,000 and €1,200.

Calves

Friesian calves ranged from €50 to €130/head and Friesian crosses were between €110 and €130.

Moving along, Angus calves started at €80/head up to €240 for stronger lots.

Herefords sold for between €110 and €322/head. Again the strong, three-quarter reared lots were making the highest money here.

A selection of continental crosses were also sold. Limousins ranged from €170 to €250, Simmentals were between €150 and €195 and a pen of three one-month-old Salers-cross heifer calves made €101/head.

Corrin Mart

Commission is €9/head to the buyer.

The seller is subject to an entry fee of €2.50 plus 1.5% commission with a minimum of €9.50/head.

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.