Cattle marts: Wet weather fails to dampen the trade

The wet weather failed to put much of a dampener on the trade for cattle last week, as prices reported were more or less unaffected from the previous week.

There were fears that the heavy rainfall would make some farmers postpone their buying of store cattle until the weather cleared up.

Speaking with one mart manager in particular about custom last week, they had noticed some buyers taking a step back – yet prices weren’t hit too badly.

In the store trade, some marts were seeing similar week-on-week prices paid – with the 500-600kg quality continental bullock continuing to range from €2.22/kg up to highs of €2.45/kg.

An obvious point to highlight is that farm movements for these store cattle are being closely watched this spring when it comes to buying. Prices can be seen to ease back on some animals reaching four moves or above.

The numbers of forward cattle sold increased slightly from the week previous in a number of marts – with prices paid for Angus bullocks over 600kg peaking at €2.29/kg in Castlerea Mart last week. However, general prices paid for these bullocks were between the €1.90-2.10/kg range.

Both forward continental bullocks and heifers were averaging at €2.10-2.20/kg.

Lighter store heifers in the 400-500kg bracket were selling at an average price of €2.35/kg for continentals, while Angus heifers sold up to €2.25/kg in some marts.

Turning to the cow trade, prices secured over €2.00/kg were more common last week – with managers reporting a ‘heating up’ of dry cow prices. General prices paid ranged from €1.70-2.00/kg.

One of the top prices reported for cows weighing over 700kg last week was for a Limousin cow that sold for €2.35/kg or €1,730 at Ennis Mart.

In the weanling trade, prices for lighter weanling heifer weighing from 250kg up to 400kg were peaking at €3.06/kg and back to €2.40/kg. A similar price range was recorded for bulls, although there were cases of marts reporting that the trade for bulls was just not as strong as the previous week. They were topped just below €3.00/kg in some marts.

This week AgriLand takes a look at the recent sales of cattle in Castlerea and Roscommon Marts.

Castlerea Mart

Speaking after the conclusion of Thursday’s (March 11) sale of cattle at Castlerea Mart, manager Brendan Egan stated that despite the recent inclement weather conditions, trade held up very well for all categories of stock. 

Brendan also said: “There was a good number of additional buyers trying to source stock for further feeding.

“The bullock and heifer rings reported good clearances with the bullocks peaking at €2.65/kg and heifers peaking at €2.86/kg.”

The dry cow trade was also strong last week according to the report – with cows reaching up to €1,980 or €2.22/kg for a Charolais cow weighing 890kg.

Cows with calves at foot sold from €760/lot to €1,780/lot. Meanwhile, springers made from €880/head up to €1,460/head.

Speaking about the weanling trade this week, Brendan highlighted that the prices continue to grown as more farmer activity has led to price increases.

In the calf trade, Brendan briefly said: “Friesian bulls made from €30/head up to €170/head. Hereford and Angus cross calves made from €190/head up to €300/head with better quality lots on offer this week.”

Roscommon Mart

Maura Quigley reported that there were good numbers of excellent quality stock on offer last week at Roscommon Mart.

The manager of the western-based mart described last Friday’s (March 12) sale of dry cows, bullocks and heifers as “a brisk trade and more customers anxious for stock resulting in a high percentage of lots sold.”

Starting with the dry cows, these fetched from an average of €1.83/kg up to €2.33/kg, according to Maura.

Maura stated that heifer numbers were smaller last Friday due to a special heifer sale being held this week. In terms of prices, Maura reported that the higher quality heifers ranged from an average of €2.52/kg up to €2.84/kg.

Moving to the bullock prices, Maura said: “Bullocks averaged from €2.39/kg up to €2.74/kg.”