There was a great trade for calves at Castleisland Co-operative Mart in Co Kerry for its weekly calf sale on Monday last. A total of 1,490 calves went through the ring and there was a full clearance.

Commenting on the trade, manager Neilus McAulliffe said: “For shipping calves, the good, firm Friesian bull calves sold for as high as €100 to €120, while, at the opposite end of trade, light Holstein calves were making around €30 to €40.

“Farmer buyers were paying up to €190 for older, stronger Friesians. For Angus, we had a top of €480 for a group of early February-born Angus bulls. They were great calves, with good length and width. For whiteheads then, any nice ones around 75kg to 80kg could be got at €250 to €300.

“The bulk of lighter traditional beef breed calves sold for between €120 and €180, with a share of them bought by exporters. The stronger ones then could be got for anything between €200 and €300.

“There was a small share of lighter calves making under €100. Included among these were Angus heifer calves that went for export and sold for between €40 to €100.

Continentals

“Continentals sold for a top price of €505, which was paid on a trio of Belgian Blue bulls.

“We’re getting a lot of calves in and trade was very strong this week. We had a serious ring of customers too and that was a great help.

“There were six shippers at the ringside and there was two men from the North buying as well. They were going for the real top end of calves.

“We had the usual local buyers too, as well as those from the west of Ireland and the midlands. A few were up in the seats because there wasn’t room around the ring.”

While weather played havoc with the export calf trade, Neilus said there’s been a steady demand from farmer buyers.

“The good strong calves have been a great trade all spring. Farmers were willing to go a bit extra for them and for farmers who held their calves that extra week, especially coloured calves, it paid them well.”

Weather delays

Weather-related delays in getting cattle out gave him some hope that prices would hold for calves over the next few weeks.

“I think over the next few weeks we’ll see a lot of farmers out buying and that should help the trade a lot.

“They haven’t been out yet, because they haven’t got cattle out to grass.

“Usually, once they’d have the cattle out, they’d power wash the sheds and come in and buy 10, 20 or 30 calves, but because of the difficult spring, that hasn’t happened yet locally this year. I think that will hold calves at a good steady price for the next couple of weeks anyway.”