Kilkenny Mart hosted its weekly general cattle sale on Thursday (November 5), with 650 head of cattle on offer in the sale, down from 1,000 head in the previous week.

Cattle prices have taken a dip at marts across the country in most weight categories, and Kilkenny Mart did not escape this national trend at its most recent weekly cattle sale.

The reduction in factory beef price offers as well as the news of the temporary closure of Algeria to Irish weanling exports are two recent factors that have likely attributed to the drop in cattle prices at marts.

Both light and heavy cattle felt the price drops with the average price paid for bullocks under 400kg at the most recent sale settling at €3.70/kg, down €0.35c/kg from €4.05/kg last week.

At the most recent sale, two Friesian bullocks weighing 320kg sold for €1,000 or €3.13/kg.

Two Charolais bullocks weighing 375kg sold for €1,700/head or €4.53/kg.

Trade

Commenting on the trade, auctioneer George Candler said: "The quality continentals are still selling well but plainer cattle are more difficult to get away."

He described the sale as a "difficult days' trading" for the plainer cattle.

The auctioneer said: "Even though the sale was smaller, potential buyers were not a plentiful as the last few weeks."

Despite this, there was a 99% clearance rate in the bullock sale and a 97% clearance rate in the heifer sale.

400-500kg bullocks averaged €3.75/kg, which was in fact up €0.15c/kg on the previous week but 500-600kg bullocks averaged €3.60/kg, down €0.10/kg from last week.

Heavier bullocks over 600kg averaged €3.70/kg, down €0.15c/kg from the previous week.

Candler said: "The fact that factory quotes are being reduced is not helping potential customers to buy with confidence."

The Kilkenny mart auctioneer said that the question has to be asked:

"Are factories finding it hard to sell beef even though our nearest customer - mainland UK - see their farmers receiving €1/kg more for their product than the Irish farmer or are they painting a negative picture to boost their profits?"

Cull cows and heifer trade

There were over 200 cull cows in the Tuesday sale with prices ranging from €1.50-€3.20/kg for Friesians while suckler cull cows ranged in price from €2.20-€3.80/kg.

Beef heifers averaged €3.60/kg, down from €3.75/kg in the previous week while forward store heifers averaged €3.60/kg, down from €3.85/kg last week.

Light store heifers averaged €3.55/kg, down from €3.75/kg last week.