With increased throughput of weanlings at marts from early August, the month of September could prove to have been the busiest we’ll see this autumn.

A super year for growth and strong prices for the past year across all sections meant confidence was high and this certainly filtered down to weanling prices.

Not only are prices up on the same period last year, but they are also the highest seen in over five years.

The most common weanling type continues to be that 300kg to 400kg weight, across both bulls and heifers. For bulls sold in the month of September hitting this weight, prices averaged €2.64/kg. This price is 13c/kg higher than last year’s average and 8c/kg higher than the good 2017 season.

When comparing 2017 and 2021, we are comparing two good years

The difference for heifers in the same bracket is much higher. Here we see an increase of 24c/kg on the year and 15c/kg higher than 2017.

When comparing 2017 and 2021, we are comparing two good years.

To highlight this, you only need to look at 2019, which, in comparison to 2021, had bulls back 30c/kg and heifers back 46c/kg. This is a difference of up to €120 per head for bulls and over €180 per head for heifers.

The Belgian Blue breed saw some of the largest increases on two years ago

This differential is even larger is we compare the top third of lots sold. Here we see bull weanlings of 300kg to 400kg up 40c/kg on 2019. While the top third of heifers of the same weight sold 59c/kg higher than in 2019.

This obviously varies between breeds and, thanks to Martbids data, the Irish Farmers Journal is able to outline the averages across the weight categories for each of the major breeds.

The Belgian Blue breed saw some of the largest increases on two years ago, but this is with smaller numbers compared with Charolais and Limousin.

Angus and Hereford also saw substantial increases and it’s worth noting that much of this data would be made up of bucket-fed calves from the dairy herd born this spring. Due to demand for this type of stock, numbers present at marts have increased.

Similarly, Friesian bulls born in the spring have data included, but obviously females from the dairy herd coming for sale would be too small for a data group.