Camera at the Mart: over 1,000 Angus-cross calves in Bandon

Beef calves made up the vast majority of the just over 1,900 head on offer in Bandon Mart for this week’s calf sale in the west Cork venue. That’s a lift of almost 400 calves on the same time in 2024.

Of that number, over 1,000 were Angus-crosses and demand remained extremely strong for them and their traditional beef breed cohorts, Hereford-crosses.

Prices were running along similar lines to last week’s sale, with those weighing close to 55kg or above making from €280 to €380.

From €400 upwards tended to be the target for most calves nearing or over 65kg and if a calf weighed 75kg or over, then €450 to €500 was common place, with some selling for over €600.

Between them, Angus- and Hereford-crosses accounted for three quarters of all calves present and at the upper reaches of trade for them, traditional beef breed calves over 75kg had opening bids of €400 to €500.

Some calves close to weaning made €700 for Angus-crosses, while €635 was paid for a young but heavy Hereford-cross bull.

Continentals

For continental-crosses of the same weight, select lots opened at €600 and €700 and at the upper end of the trade here, a pair of Belgian Blue-cross heifers weighing 85kg sold for €820.

It was common enough to see those heavier continental-crosses sell from there back to €650.

The calf prices during the first half of April this year are a world away from 12 months ago, where most of the strong Angus- and Hereford-crosses weighing around or over 70kg sold for between €200 and €300.

There are still a good share of calves selling in that price range, but it’s largely the preserve of those from Friesian dams and weighing from 50kg to 60kg.

The upper third of Friesian bull calves were keeping them company at those prices, while lighter ones were mainly selling for between €90 and €200.

Their numbers have dwindled down considerably and between Friesian bulls and Friesian-crosses, there were close to 200 calves on offer, with Belgian Blue numbers not too far behind in the battle for the third place in terms of volume of calves.