It’s been another busy week in the country’s marts, with some big sales reported in the south of the country in the last seven days.

Grass supplies had been under a little pressure in the south due to a lack of rainfall and mart managers are reporting some cattle moving a little earlier than other years.

Rainfall this week and further rain forecast will likely ease grazing pressure on affected farms.

Good-quality store bullocks and heifers remain a very steady trade and probably haven’t slipped that much at all in the last week.

Farmers trading these better-quality animals have been seeing decent money for bullocks and heifers over the last month and are then competing strongly when back replacing these animals in marts.

Heavy forward cattle are back to the tune of €20 to €30/head on the back of reduced factory quotes.

These cattle still aren’t back as much as they are in the factory, with larger feeders and agents still commanding top quotes for stock in factories.

Biggest hit

Poorer-quality Friesian bullocks and the lower end of the Hereford and Aberdeen Angus cattle have taken the biggest hit over the last week.

Friesian bullocks around the 400kg mark are back at €1.80/kg to €2.20/kg. Hereford and Aberdeen Angus cattle are also trading at €2.40/kg to €2.60/kg, back 20c to 30c/kg on a month ago.

Looking at this week’s MartBids analysis table, there are a lot of red arrows, indicating the trade has eased off a little again this week after similar falls last week.

Average heifers in the 400kg to 500kg bracket are trading at €2.40/kg to €2.60/kg, while average bullocks in the 400kg to 500kg category are working off €2.30/kg to €2.50/kg.

Dry cows have held pretty firm, with just poorer-quality Friesian cows seeing a significant reduction in price.

Weanling trade

The weanling trade has also eased a little in the last week. Top-end bull and heifer weanlings are still trading over €3/kg, with the bottom third back at €2.50/kg.

Specialist weanling sales are due to kick off in the south next week, with Iveragh Mart in Kerry holding its big opening autumn weanling sale on Tuesday 5 July.

Live exports

Looking at Bord Bia data, total live cattle exports so far this year are running 10% ahead of 2021 levels at 200,849 head.

Calves continue to dominate the live export trade, with more than 3,000 exported last week. This takes calf exports for the year to date to 158,301 head, almost a 20% increase on 2021.

The Netherlands has been the stand-out market for calves this year, with just over 87,000 calves exported there to the end of May 2022.

This accounts for 60% of all Irish calf exports.

Spain has also remained an important market for Irish calves, with over 51,000 calves exported so far this year.

Smaller numbers of calves have also been exported to Italy, Northern Ireland (NI), Poland, Belgium and Hungary this year.

Exports of weanling cattle continue to operate ahead of previous years, driven by the increase in cattle being exported to third country markets.