The total number of cattle sold at marts has hit almost half a million head in the first three months of 2023, according to latest figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).

A total of 499,688 cattle (including calves) were sold in January, February and March of this year, with the highest number being sold in March (228,335 head).

The first quarter of this year has seen a higher number of cattle sold at marts that the first quarter of last year.

The first three months of 2022 seen 483,803 head of cattle sold at marts, leaving this years’ throughput up by 15,885 head.

The table below compares the number of cattle sold in the first three months of 2022 and 2023. Unsold cattle are not included:

JanuaryFebruaryMarch
202280,210154,497249,096
202399,426171,927228,335

In 2022, March was the month with the highest number of cattle sold at marts. Large volumes of calves from the dairy herd appearing at marts in the spring was a major contributing factor to this.

The month with the second-highest number of cattle sold at marts last year was October. Large numbers of store cattle and weanlings coming off grass after the summer grazing season accounted for a large volume of this monthly figure.

The number of cattle sold privately (farm-to-farm) in the first three months of this year was 472,707 head.

This figure is down by over 9,600 head from the same time period of last year when 482,335 head of cattle were sold from farm to farm.

Last March and April were the two consecutive months with the highest farm-to-farm sales. Farmers trading calves and farmers buying grass cattle likely contributed significantly to these figures.

Farm-to-farm cattle sales were much lower than mart sales in the third and fourth quarters of last year with numbers for quarters three and four peaking in November at 118,482 head of cattle.