According to Mid-Tipperary Mart manager Martin Ryan, numbers were well back at Monday’s general cattle sale, but prices took a jump.

“Numbers were back about 40% for the week,” he said.

“But there was definitely a good lift in the trade. There seemed to be a much better attitude among farmers this week.”

Ryan speculated that the better attitude could be a direct result of improving grass growth.

“There were fears of a drought at one stage down here, but the rain seems to have pushed more people out to buy cattle for the grass,” he said.

The early spring is also showing and “cattle are more presentable now than they would have been earlier in the year," according to Martin. "They have a good thrive done at this stage.”

Around the ring, feedlot buyers were present, but they were somewhat thwarted by the grass buyers.

“The finishers are getting it harder to compete with the grass buyers,” said Ryan.

“There is a good go on store cattle for export though, with plainer Angus types in good demand for the European market.”

Martin Ryan, manager Mid-Tipperary Mart.

Bullocks

A high clearance rate of over 200 bullocks was achieved in the sale, but this number was well below the 360 sold in the previous week.

Table 1 gives a full breakdown of prices.

Lighter bullocks for the grass were in fine demand.

Bullocks from 350kg to 400kg averaged €2.09/kg, while 400kg to 500kg animals came into an average of €2.11/kg.

That’s a weekly increase of almost 20c/kg for both weight bands.

Anything showing better signs of beef made 25c/kg above the average price.

Forward stores were less lively. Cattle weighing 500kg to 600kg cattle were €1.82/kg on average. Quality commanded a price of over €2.05/kg.

Bullocks over 600kg were a better price though and averaged an even €2/kg, with the tops pushing towards €2.25/kg regularly.

Heifers

One-hundred and twenty heifers were sold out of 135. Table 2 gives full information on prices.

Lighter heifers weighing 350kg to 400kg averaged €2.14/kg, with better conformation lots making an extra 20c/kg.

Poorer-quality lots were struggling to cross €2/kg.

Heifers from 400kg to 500kg averaged €2.04/kg.

A lot of plainer lots sold for less than €1.90, but better-quality was making over €2.20/kg.

Cull cows

A full clearance of 42 cull cows was achieved at the sale.

According to Ryan, “the trade for cull cows was strong from last week with anything showing a bit of flesh in strong demand”.

Friesian cows ranged from 81c/kg up to €1.41/kg.

On a per-head basis, they sold for between €400 and €930.

Angus cows sold for between €1.37c/kg and €1.64/kg or €745 to €1,050 per head.

Calves

Eighty-nine out of 100 calves were sold on the day.

“There is still a good demand on calves for the export market,” said Ryan.

Table 3 gives a full breakdown of calf prices from the sale.

Mid-Tipperary Mart

To the seller, commission rates for bullocks, heifers and cows are €10/head for singles and €9/head for multiples, plus 0.05%.

For calves, it's €8/head for a single calf plus 0.05%.

To the buyer, commission is €10/head for bullocks, heifers and cows and €7/head for calves.

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.