Agriland spoke with mart manager of Corrin Mart, Sean Leahy, about the surge in calf prices after a sale on Wednesday (February 12) where he said "what the Friesian bull calves are making is shocking us all".

The mart manager admitted that numbers are a bit lower than usual for this time of the year, as they had a sale with just 200 calves in the Cork mart.

However, Leahy said that "I expect the numbers [of calves] to double up or more by next week".

Other prices include three Aberdeen Angus-cross (AAx) bulls at 66kg that sold at €360/head and two AAx bulls at 50kg sold at €280/head.

Sample prices of the Friesian (FR) bulls that were sold are as follows:

Six FR bulls at 53kg sold at €160/head;
Eight FR bulls at 58kg sold at €195/head;
Four FR bulls at 63kg sold at €180/head;
Five FR bulls at 52kg sold at €165/head;
An 88kg FR bull sold at €240/head.

Leahy said that Friesian bull calves that were going for shipping were making anywhere between €130 to €220 as he said "the export demand is very strong".

Other sample prices on the day are as follows:

Two AAx heifers at 78kg sold at €300/head;
Four Limousin-cross (LMx) bulls at 74kg sold at €425/head;
Three LMx heifers at 78kg sold at €335;
Two AAx heifers at 66kg sold at €320.

Leahy said that "across the board, its [calf prices] all gone very dear" from what he can see in the middle of February.

The mart manager expressed that he expects the trade "to stay steady enough as the export demand is very strong".

He added that "there are only a few farmers out (at the mart) but I think as more calves come, more farmers will come too" which he believes will help prices to rise further.

The mart manager said that there are a lot of Friesian bull calves at the minute "but, in three weeks time, a lot of them will be gone, and we will be into Angus and Hereford and coloured calves then".

"A lot of the Friesian calves will be gone very fast and that's what we are hearing on the ground", Leahy added.