On Wednesday (November 18), Ballyjamesduff Mart hosted its weekly sale of dry cows followed by its sale of weanling bulls and heifers.
AgriLand spoke with the mart’s manager, John Tevlin, this week to get a view on the trade of cattle that sold through the Cavan-based mart this week.
Commenting on the trade, John highlighted an increase of northern buyer activity across all age categories of animals that passed through the mart. He stated:
Northern buyers seemed to be anxious for all classes of stock this week, both at our sale on Tuesday and our sale on Wednesday. I am not sure what exactly is driving the demand, but it seems to be there anyway and it’s great to see.
“A lot of the northern buyers are not even pre-viewing the cattle, they are just buying the stock online and coming to pick them up.”
The mart recorded a slightly smaller number of weanlings this week with just over 200 lots entered. John explained:
“It’s hard to know if some farmers are holding back their stock in the hopes of marts reopening once the lockdown has been lifted, so we will just have to wait and see.”
The weanling bulls traded this week at a price ranging from €1.90/kg right up to €3.00/kg for the more quality continental-type animal. While the heifer weanlings sold from €2.00/kg to €3.19/kg.
Sample weanling bull prices:
- Limousin: 450kg – €1,020 or €2.26/kg;
- Charolais: 425kg – €1,020 or €2.40/kg;
- Limousin: 415kg – €1,040 or €2.50/kg;
- Charolais: 235kg – €690 or €2.93/kg.
Sample weanling heifer prices:
- Charolais: 400kg – €1,070 or €2.67/kg;
- Charolais: 370kg – €980 or €2.64/kg;
- Limousin: 400kg – €970 or €2.42/kg;
- Limousin: 235kg – €750 or €3.19/kg;
- Hereford: 230kg – €500 or €2.17/kg.
Cow Trade
John noted that cows that sold through the mart this week received a great lift in trade, as he explained:
“The cow trade was well improved from what it was two weeks ago when the factories began to pull the prices. Again this was mainly driven by buyers from the north.
“Some prices that were paid didn’t seem too in-line with the factory prices; overall the trade has certainly got a lift.”
Cull cows sold on the day from €1.39/kg to €2.08/kg for continental breeds, while the dairy-bred cows experienced some price fall back as far as €1.00/kg.
Sample cull cow prices:
- Charolais: 725kg – €1,510 or €2.08/kg;
- Friesian: 650kg – €780 or €1.20/kg;
- Limousin: 640kg – €1,260 or €1.96/kg;
- Charolais 630kg – €1,360 or €2.15/kg;
- Friesian: 580kg – €690 or €1.18/kg.
The mart is hosting a special clearance sale of 20 sucklers this Wednesday (November 25). These cows are selling with strong Speckled Park calves at foot and are all back in-calf to a Speckled Park bull. For further enquiries, please contact Ballyjamesduff Mart.