In this week’s Focus on marts and livestock handling, we look at how the mart trade performed over the first half of the year and the trade trends over recent weeks. We will also examine the difference in the price paid at the marts for the bottom third and top third of cattle.

With the price gap ever-increasing and when margins are so tight on suckler farms, never has there been a time when focusing on producing top-quality stock has been more important. Maximising value of weanlings and store cattle at sale is crucial, especially given the current market conditions.

Over the next few features, we will chart the main changes in live cattle prices sold at marts since the spring and focus on the slump in prices seen since May. We’ll look at how prices in the first half of the year compared with the same time in previous years, and further compare these with the average price paid over the past five years. We will examine sheep prices in the first half of this year and compare them with previous years. We’ll also analyse MartWatch figures and show the trends of sheep prices in the spring.

Competition

We’ve talked to ICOS livestock services executive Ray Doyle about the important role marts play in providing an increased competition of livestock. He’ll also talk about the important changes some marts have made in terms of improving safety and outline the threat that insurance premiums and claims pose to marts as costs rise. We also chatted with ICOS about the QPS (quality payment system) grid. With beef industry talks ongoing, ICOS highlights areas of the QPS that are important.

We also look at the impressive new handling unit for the 100-cow herd on Tullamore Farm; and we examine the design considerations to ensure stress-free movement of animals.