It’s been another great week for the store cattle trade. Numbers have been higher than usual at some sales.

Speaking to mart managers around the country, they say that some farmers are capitalising on the good trade and opting to offload stock a little earlier than other years.

Saving silage, reducing the meal bill and generating a fund to pay for fertiliser is the way some farmers are thinking at the moment.

Looking at our MartBids analysis table, nearly all categories of stock improved this week, with the 600kg+ category in both bullocks and heifers performing exceptionally well in the last seven to 10 days.

Factory feedlots and Northern Ireland purchasers have driven a lot of this, with factories anxious to have cattle available to them for the April, May and June period.

Grass buyers are just a few weeks away and it’s currently unclear as to what effect the increase in fertiliser prices will have on these buyers.

A lot of these systems wouldn’t be running at very high stocking rates, so the likelihood is that it won’t make a huge difference to demand.

What could have an impact is price. Over the last few years, store cattle have seen a big lift in price in late March and early April when the traditional grass buyer swings into action.

While €5/kg and over it will be hit in the next few months, I would be less confident of it staying there

If the current store trade increases further, it will put real pressure on margins given that, at current store prices, a beef price somewhere north of €5/kg will be needed in September when these grass cattle would be killed.

While €5/kg and over it will be hit in the next few months, I would be less confident of it staying there, as numbers recover both here and in the UK towards the end of the year.

Store trade

Elphin and Mohill were two standout sales in the northwest this week, with €3/kg being hit on regular occasions, especially for anything that looked like showing some potential for breeding.

Feeders were also willing to go the distance on the forward store animal weighing between 600kg and 700kg, with €2.60/kg to €2.80/kg being hit on a regular basis all across the country last week.

Factory quotes have improved by 5c to 10c/kg in the last two weeks for these type of cows

Dry cows continue to be an exceptional trade, with in excess of €2.50/kg being paid for good-quality young fleshed suckler cows.

Factory quotes have improved by 5c to 10c/kg in the last two weeks for these type of cows and this has really added some life around rings.

There is a big variation in prices around the dry cow rings, with P grading dairy cows lacking flesh being bought for as little as €1.10/kg in the south.

Calf issues

Light Freisian bull calves are under pressure, with marts reporting a lot of these lighter calves going home unsold this week. Boats were cancelled to the continent and this took exporters out of the market and this was felt down south, where numbers are starting to ramp up.

Good-quality Friesian calves three to four weeks old and weighing up on 50kg to 60kg are a solid trade, with reports of €150/head being paid for the top end.

Hereford and Aberdeen Angus calves continue to be an excellent trade, with a lot of the top end calves still hitting €250 to €300 in sales.