Cattle marts: Weather plays havoc on numbers sold in marts

Challenging travel conditions and harsh weather resulted in a number of marts seeing reduced numbers brought forward for sale last week.

In terms of trade, prices reported were more or less similar to the previous week although some marts reported setbacks – as heavy cattle continued to take a hit due to factory cuts.

The bulk of heavy cattle were selling from €2.15/kg back to €2.05/kg.

Looking at the cull cows first – marts located in the heartlands of suckler country were still seeing some prices in excess of €2.00/kg. However, the general run of prices for heavy continental cows were from €1.90/kg back to €1.65/kg.

Beef cows which required an extra bit of feeding were reported to be trading at €1.40/kg up to €1.65/kg.

Moving onto the store bullocks and heifers, a bit more hunger from farmers was noted by some mangers last week.

Continental store heifers (under 500kg) were fetching prices of €2.20-2.30/kg last week, while some quality continental lots were fit to reach up to €2.45/kg.

Traditional store bullocks were recorded to be selling at averages of €1.95-2.05/kg – while continental bullocks were trading from €2.20/kg up to tops of €2.51/kg as reported by Eilish Curley from Ballinasloe Mart.

This week AgriLand takes a look at the recent sale of cattle in Kilkenny Mart.

Kilkenny Mart

There was a reduction of over 600 head in the week-on-week sale of cattle in Kilkenny Mart on Thursday – as there was only 300 head of cattle on offer in comparison to 900 head the week beforehand.

Predictions of poor travelling conditions left farmers second guessing plans of sending their cattle to the mart it seems.

Speaking about the trade, the mart’s auctioneer George Candler stated: “Prices for cattle were similar to the previous week, and in some cases ahead.”

Some forward store cattle showed an improvement in trade on Thursday.

Looking at prices, bullocks (over 600kg) sold from €1.85/kg up to €2.35/kg. Meanwhile, store bullocks in the 500-600 weight bracket were fetching from €2.45/kg back to €1.70/kg.

Lighter store bullocks, weighing 400-500kg, ranged from €1.80/kg up to highs of €2.45/kg.

Heavy beef heifer prices seemed to have held firm in Kilkenny last week, as they were selling from €2.05/kg up to €2.35/kg. Forward store heifers achieved prices up to €2.50/kg and back to €1.80/kg.

Meanwhile, lighter store heifers sold from €1.90/kg up to €2.30/kg.

Lastly, the cull cows on offer withnessed continentals selling from €1.30/kg up to €1.95/kg. Friesian-bred cows were peaked at €1.40kg and sold back to €1.15/kg.