As Nathan Tuffy and Darren Carty report in this week’s Focus section, we have experienced an unusually strong mart trade in the first half of 2015. As we know, mart activity increases from now and will peak in October.

While the marketplace for both the live and finished cattle trades were positive in the first half of the year, we are entering a more challenging period for all parties, although the outlook remains positive.

With a flurry of activity in the next eight weeks, it is essential that buyers budget correctly to ensure that prices are sustainable for the primary producer as well as finishers.

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