The second quarter of this year has seen the cattle trade soar to heights that have not been seen in recent years and, on the back of this rise, the cow trade is no exception.
Beef cows are one of the more volatile lots in the cattle trade and can rise and fall in a whim.
Like the weather, it can be hard to forecast the cattle trade, but to predict the direction of the cow trade is something short of impossible.
This week’s (Thursday, June 1) cattle sale at Kingscourt Mart in Co. Cavan, saw the trade for all types of cows remain firm.
Speaking to Agriland, Kingscourt Mart manager Lisa Keenan noted that northern buyers “eased off” slightly this week, but buyers in the south were “keeping firm pressure on the trade”.
She noted that cow buyers for jobs in Northern Ireland are still “extremely keen for young cows” and said that “the majority of these lots are continuing to go north”.
Below is a sample of some of the continental cow prices from Thursday’s sale at Kingscourt Mart:
- Belgian Blue cow: 610kg – €1,360 or €2.23/kg;
- Charolais cow: 730kg – €1,470 or €2.01/kg;
- Charolais cow: 770kg – €1,630 or €2.12/kg;
- Charolais cow: 780kg – €1,490 or €1.91/kg.
This Charolais cow weighing 730kg made €1,470 or €2.01/kg 
This Charolais cow weighing 770kg made €1,630 or €2.12/kg 
This Charolais cow weighing 780kg made €1,490 or €1.91/kg
Continuing, Keenan said: “There are plain whitehead cows crossing the €2/kg mark; there was a time not too long ago when you couldn’t get heifers into that kind of money.”
Concluding, the Kingscourt Mart manager noted that while this week’s sale consisted primarily of ‘plainer-type’ cows, at last week’s sale “there were fancy cows coming into €2.50/kg and €2.60/kg”.