A total of 445 calves went through the ring in Cahir Mart on Friday evening last and they met with a brisk trade.

Farmers appear to have been the bigger buyers on the night and mart manager Jonathan O’Sullivan reported relatively low exporter activity.

“Exporters didn’t buy a whole lot at that sale, but we saw a lot of farmer buyers.

“They were especially keen for that better-framed Friesian bull calf and we saw a good trade for them.

“The Dutch trade usually takes a few weeks to warm up, so I’d expect shippers to become more active over the next few weeks.

“There seems to be concern among them of difficulties in getting trucks booked on to boats though.”

Friesian bulls

Between €35 to €80 was the going rate for the bulk of the Friesian bulls from 48kg and higher at the south Tipperary mart.

Lighter calves and most of those with dairy crossbred genetics sold for between €5 and €35, but a few made similar money to their Friesian comrades.

At the upper echelons of the trade for Friesian bulls, €100 to €130 was available, with a few select lots making €140 to €160.

For traditional beef breed crosses from Friesian cows, the going was similar to the upper end of Friesian bulls for lighter calves that were skirting either side of 50kg.

The better ones made close to €200, while heavier Angus and Hereford calves pushed much higher into the €200 to €300 range.

Angus- and Hereford-crosses with Jersey genetics tended to sell for prices similar to light Friesian calves.

A one-month-old Charolais-cross heifer calf weighing 81kg and selling for €460 was the sale topper.

Scarcity of supply pushed continental calves out in front when it came to prices. Those from Friesian cows consistently made €300/head and over, while those from dairy crossbred dams tended to be sharing ranks with traditional beef breed calves.

Friesian bull calves have been slower to come out this year compared with before and many put that down to increased sexed semen use.

This is something O’Sullivan concurred with: “They were scarce early on, but we’re starting to see them come out more now and we had a good few of them at this week’s sale.

“In terms of overall numbers of calves, we’re seeing the same trends as other years, it’s just that they seem to be running a week behind where they usually would be.

“We’re seeing that across all our mart centres so far this year. They’ve been back anywhere from 10% to 20% compared with the same weeks last year.”

In pictures