On page 18, Tommy Moyles delves into the detail of the 2026 calf trade. One of the greatest strengths of the Irish Farmers Journal livestock team is the deep analysis of mart prices and markets on a weekly basis. This week’s calf trade analysis is a great example of the power of taking a large dataset and comparing it to previous years.

We must acknowledge the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) for collating the calf price database that we publish weekly during the peak calf sales season in the spring months. A lot of farmers thought that we wouldn’t see the prices achieved during the 2025 calf sales season ever again, but 2026 has surpassed those levels and that’s against the backdrop of a lower beef price during the spring of 2026.

Average calf prices have come in €120/head above the 2025 price, with exports driving much of the trade. Mart managers reported strong demand from Dutch buyers for Friesian bull calves, with new markets in Spain and Italy for traditional breeds also becoming increasingly important.

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Despite the bizarre assertion from Meat Industry Ireland recently pointing to high live exports to Europe as being one of the reasons we are seeing depressed beef prices, live exports should continue to be supported and encouraged. We operate to some of the highest regulations and standards in the world in relation to live exports and we should be arguing to maintain them.

The high prices should come with a note of caution to farmer buyers. Paying €600/head for a three-week-old calf leaves achieving a margin in two years very difficult, especially at current prices. Budgets should be completed and just because the export trade is strong, this shouldn’t mean that farmer buyers get caught in the crossfire.

High calf prices could also run the risk that dairy farmers take the eye off breeding quality calves and focusing on higher Commercial Beef Value indexes. This would be a backward step for everybody.