Camera at the Mart: exporters continue to drive weanling bull trade

A special weanling sale was the main event at the weekly cattle sale in Skibbereen Mart on Friday last and there was good appetite for heavy bull weanlings especially.

Most bulls from 350kg to 450kg that were certain to grade as U were selling for €3.10/kg to €3.60/kg, with an odd few selling either side of this price range.

Some plainer bulls snuck into those prices too, with the balance of trade firmly in the sellers' side, as it’s generally a quieter time of year for selling weanlings.

Exporter demand for weanling bulls is keeping a solid floor under the trade for them across the country and, as a result, there is a wider difference in the price per kilo between bulls and heifers.

Heifers

The number of weanling heifers on offer was lower than the bulls and while the top end of trade for them kept pace with heavier bulls, plainer R grading heifers were back 50c to 60c/kg on bulls of the same age.

Speaking after the sale, mart manager Keith Mullaney said: “Exporters bought a high percentage and farmers and online buyers found it hard to compete with them.

"The yard of bulls that was there is the type that the exporters wanted and that helped. The 350kg to 450k shapey Limousin or Charolais - that’s what they really want and they’re paying for them.

"I was happy with trade and the quality on offer. The farmers are doing them right and getting them right for the export trade and they’re being rewarded this spring. It’s been tricky to do with the difficult spring and grass getting tight on a lot of farms.”

He was hoping to have a few more special weanling sales due to demand.

“We’ll have sales like this once a month until Christmas. We did it last year and it worked well.

"We had around 500 at October when the spring ones really started to come out, so we’d be hoping for similar this year Could be a tough autumn for farmers to buy bull weanlings if the export trade keeps going at this rate.”