Mayo Sligo Livestock Mart (Ballina Mart) hosted its weekly general cattle sale on Tuesday (August 22).
Speaking to Agriland after the sale, Ballina Mart manager Billy Loftus said: “Prices were up €40/head on the previous week in some cases with heavy bullocks over 700kg making over €3.00/kg.”
“The top price was €3.10/kg for a 710kg Charolais bullock.
“The northern customers were keen for heavy bullocks with a noticible increase in activity from the home feedlots and factory agents over the past two weeks,” he added.
The mart manager said that winter finishers have commenced buying at the sale.
“While beef price has taken a whack over the past weeks, [those] that bought stores last back end look like they’re going to be okay,” he said.
“It’s different for farmers buying them spring cattle. We have a lot of seven-month feeders here who come in and buy cattle in March and April.
“Time is going to tell how they get out because they bought them fairly dear. Good cattle were tough bought at €3.20/kg and €3.50/kg in cases this spring. There was 650kg bullocks making €2,000 at that time.”
Sample prices from Ballina Mart:
“There seems to be a bit of a positivity currently as cattle price seems to have stabilised and the sheep trade has seen a raise to lamb price and the lambs are not as plentiful as was thought,” Loftus added,
The mart manager said that the positive sentiment is being seen in the cattle trade, in particular as the large sales of weanlings get underway at the Co. Mayo mart venue in the coming two weeks.
He said: “August is generally not that busy in the cattle sale but last week we had 270 head of cattle on offer and next Tuesday, there’s 450 head of cattle entered with a lot of forward-type cattle expected.
“Weanling sales kick off at Ballina in first week of September. Weanlings will be sold on a Monday and everything else is sold on a Tuesday.”
Monday, September 4, will be the first of the autumn weanling sales at Ballina and approximately 600 weanlings are expected.
The mart manager expects there will be “a good trade for the good weanlings”.
“They’re going to be dearer than last year or as dear. They’re going to be no less anyways.”
The mart manager expects a strong weanling trade this autumn because: “Demand is there and they’re not as plentiful. The only place you see sales full of good weanlings really now is along the western seaboard counties. There’s no big numbers of suckler cattle down the country really.
“You have Kerry, Clare, ourselves [Mayo], Galway, Donegal and into Roscommon and that would be it.”
Loftus said that the weanling sales at Ballina attract buyers from across Ireland very year.
“We have buyers who come back here every year for the weanlings and if there’s a shipping job on, all the better for the trade,” he said.