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Last week brought the introduction of new restrictions across marts due to the level five COVID-19 lockdown.
The biggest change now is that no ringside bidders are allowed in the mart. Instead, all bidding has to be done online.
MartBids data shows that this has led to a decrease in animals forward at marts throughout the country by 25% to 35% depending on cattle type. These are significant numbers when viewed on a national scale.
That said, mart managers have stated that they expected this drop-off in numbers but it comes just slightly ahead of the expected time.
Fears of this lockdown, Brexit and a very strong mart trade up until now were just some of the reasons why they expected this decrease.
The answer is that there have been no drastic changes. Prices may be plus or minus €10 a head depending on animal group or weight
It must also be considered that we are now going into the month of November when we would generally see marts start to ease back anyway. The busiest weeks of weanling sales are nearly behind us and now the majority of big sales coming are for cull cows after being dried off.
While numbers are down, I think the real question people have is if the online bidding only is affecting price?
The answer is that there have been no drastic changes. Prices may be plus or minus €10 a head depending on animal group or weight, but this isn’t uncommon in a normal week.
The weanling sales, while down in numbers, still contribute the most to marts at this time of year.
Even the most populated section of bull weanlings – 300kg to 400kg – rose by 2c/kg on average and 15c/kg for the top third of lots
If we look at the bull weanling trade, it has actually seen an increase in most weight divisions, particularly the better type of bull weanling, with lesser types hit on price.
While numbers would be lowest for bull weanlings (450kg plus) we saw that average for the top third of lots increased by 21c/kg to rest at over €2.50.
Even the most populated section of bull weanlings – 300kg to 400kg – rose by 2c/kg on average and 15c/kg for the top third of lots. The top lots of bull weanlings actually displayed one of the highest seen all year in the analysis.
Hit hardest was the heavy weanling which was down 11c/kg on average to settle at €2.08/kg
Light weanlings, although getting scarce, also saw average price rise by 10c/kg to settle at an impressive €2.47/kg.
Heifer weanlings were hit a bit harder with drops seen for all weight categories except for sub-300kg.
Hit hardest was the heavy weanling which was down 11c/kg on average to settle at €2.08/kg.
However, it must be noted that the number of heifers at 400kg plus is still quite small. The highest data pool is for heifers of 300kg to 400kg which saw prices down 2c/kg on the week, the equivalent to €6 to €8 a head.
Stores
Fit steers moved up on the week with average price rising by 6c/kg to settle at €1.98. The biggest increase in this section was for lesser quality lots which rose by 10c/kg despite no movement in base price at the factory gate.
Heifer average rose also, but it still lies 5c/kg behind steers despite a higher base achievable at slaughter.
Short-keep heifers held firm with over €2/kg average achieved
The bottom end again performed the best here, rising by 22c/kg on the week.
This was the opposite for the better quality lots which dropped by 12c/kg to settle at €2.10/kg.
Short-keep heifers held firm with over €2/kg average achieved, while steers of the same weight dropped by a substantial 11c/kg.
Lighter stores, despite getting scarce, are holding their own with not much movement shown on the week and continues to hover around that €2/kg mark across both steers and heifers.
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