Mart trade: First autumn sale at Thurles and prices from Carnew
Mid-Tipperary Co-Operative Livestock Mart (Thurles Mart) hosted its first general cattle sale of autumn on Monday, September 1.
Speaking to Agriland after the sale, Thurles Mart manager Murt Ryan said there was over 750 cattle in the sale with a 98% clearance.
He added that while cattle prices have never before been as high for the time of year, the trade has eased slightly since its peak.
He said: "There's still a lot of variability in prices."
Giving an example of this, he said: "Take Hereford bullocks between 400-500kg, they could range in price from €3.90-€5.00/kg - there's a huge range.
"Overall, it's probably just quietened a little bit in the last fortnight. Factories pulling prices has probably taken a little bit of the confidence out of it."
He also noted that some factories has been seen to be reducing their mart activity in recent weeks for heavy cattle .
Despite this slight easing in the trade, Ryan said: "We never had prices as high for the time of year as they are now, that's for certain."
The mart manager highlighted the challenge faced by farmers buying store cattle for finishing this winter.
He said that while farmers are getting good prices for cattle they are selling now, they are returning to marts and having to give high prices to restock.
"The suckler weanling producer or dairy farmer rearing their own calf, they have seen a huge increase in income. Costs have been relatively static in the past two years but sale prices have increased."
Thurles Mart is hosting a special sale of pedigree Angus cattle this coming Friday (September 5) at 7:00p.m.
There were over 1,100 head of cattle on offer at Carnew Mart in Co. Wicklow on Saturday, August 30.
Some of the top cow prices from the sale at Carnew Mart:
- 688kg Limousin cow sold for €3,080 or €4.61/kg;
- 830kg Charolais cow sold for €3,590 or €4.33/kg;
- 748kg Belgian Blue cow sold for €2,430 or €3.25/kg;
- 810kg Friesian cow sold for €2,740 or €3.41/kg;
- 378kg Friesian cow sold for €1,260 or €3.33/kg;
A sale report from the mart noted that the trade "was driven by factory agents, feed lot operators, and specialist finishers which were filling sheds for the upcoming winter" and there was also demand for lighter cattle from exporters.
Some of the top bullock prices from the sale:
- 482kg Limousin bullock sold for €2,620 or €5.44/kg;
- 396kg Limousin bullock sold for €2,080 or €5.25/kg;
- 310kg Charolais bullock sold for €1,620 or €5.23/kg;
- 228kg Charolais bullock sold for €1,140 or €5.00/kg;
- 2 Angus bullocks weighing 351kg sold for €1,690 or €4.81/kg;
- Four Angus bullocks weighing 464kg sold for €2,060 or €4.44/kg.
Store heifers sold for between €4.20-€4.80/kg in general, with many continentals selling north of €5.00/kg and the tops were reaching €5.62/kg.
There was a small sale of weanling bulls but a full clearance with up to €6.64/kg paid for a 298kg Limousin bull that made €1,780. Heavier bulls sold to €2,680 for a 640kg Salers bull making €4.19/kg.
