Weanling sales are buoyant at the moment, with decent numbers coming forward for sale and big prices on offer across almost all classes of stock.

The average price for bull weanlings increased by 10c/kg or €30/head to €35/head on the average animal.

It sees the average price across all weight brackets sitting around €3.10/kg this week, while the top third of stock are averaging just shy of €3.50/kg.

Driving the prices is the fact that heavier cattle that would normally be bought by grass buyers are now being snapped up by feedlots and finishers, as they try to secure numbers for the coming months.

As a result, grass buyers are having to trade at lower weights, but are paying similar, if not more, than they were last year, albeit for a lighter animal.

The number of bull weanlings from 200kg to 400kg is very strong at the moment, while smaller numbers of heavier bulls over 400kg are moving and, where quality is on show, are being met with good demand.

Weanling heifers are back on the week by around 8c/kg, but remain in on a strong footing, with average prices of €2.95/kg. The bulk of heifers at sales are from 250kg to 330kg, with much smaller numbers at heavier weights.

The average price for weanlings is currently 30c/kg or €100/head above where it was this time last year, while at the top of the trade, prices are running €125/head above February 2022 prices.

Even the bottom third of weanlings are averaging close to €2.60/kg, which is 25c/kg or €80/head to €90/head above the same time last year.

Bullocks

Overall, bullocks are similar to last week. However, those over 600kg are back on last week to an average of €2.91/kg.

The top third of heavy bullocks are still making €3.19/kg on average, putting a 650kg bullock into €2,075/head.

The bullock category with the largest number of entries is currently the 500kg to 600kg weight band, with some farmers that would typically finish these cattle opting to sell to a buoyant trade and allow someone else to take on the risk of finishing feed costs.

The average animal in this band made €2.84/kg this week, while the price for the top third averaged a massive €3.24/kg putting a top-third 550kg bullock into €1,782/head.

Heifers

Heifers eased slightly from last week’s highs, down 4c/kg on average, but remain in good territory.

Whether processor attempts to reduce beef quotes this week have had some effect on ringside trade remains to be seen, as prices tend to fluctuate week to week in any case. The average price for heifers sits at €2.82/kg, around 4c/kg above the same categories of bullocks for the last seven days.

Cows

There is no slowing the demand for cows in mart sales, with the average price across all types of cull cows sitting at €2.15/kg, similar to the previous seven days. Within this, marts are reporting good-quality suckler cows still making in excess of €3/kg in cases.