There were 1,370 calves on offer at Castleisland Mart’s calf sale on Monday (March 27), with a strong trade in particular for the older, stronger-type calves.
The disruption to calf exports in recent weeks has resulted in prices being paid for these calves softening over the last week or so at marts.
Castleisland
To get some insight into the trade at on Monday, Agriland spoke with Adam Coughlan from the mart.
Coughlan said that the Friesian bull calves were the hardest sold due to the reduced shipping.
He noted that there were some exporters present who were buying calves, but that prices of between €20-25 were being paid for 45kg calves.
According to Coughlan, there was a good farmer trade for the better Friesian calves with prices being paid for these type calves of around €70.
Angus and Hereford
With Angus and Hereford calves, Coughlan described the month-old and older calves as a ‘flyer’ – with a strong demand in particular from farmers.
The best of the Angus and Hereford bulls reached prices as high as €400, with most of the bull calves making over €300.
Similarly, the month-old and older Angus and Hereford heifers were also in demand, with most of these calves achieving prices of €300.
Although there was a strong trade for the older calves, younger calves were a harder sell with prices for two-week-old calves being between €70 and €130.
Continental
The demand for older calves continued into the Continental calves with month-old Belgian Blue calves achieving prices over €400.
According to Coughlan, the best trade of the day was for the Belgian Blue heifers, with a number of farmers very keen on these calves. These consistently made between €350 and €400, for the heifers with five stars.
Coughlan said that there was a strong farmer trade with demand for the older-type calves, and younger calves were a much harder sale on the day.