Camera at the Mart: solid demand for dairy weanlings in Bandon

There was a good turnout of runners in Bandon Mart for the west Cork venue's weanling runner show and sale on Monday. Appetite was solid throughout with buyers active throughout the sale.

The strong run of calf exports from last spring could be seen, with Friesian and Angus bull runners appearing in smaller numbers than may have been expected.

Angus appeared to be the main breed on offer and heifer calves made up a big proportion of their representation.

There were 288 on offer, with a 99% clearance rate achieved.

Most beef-cross runners weighing between 200kg and 300kg sold anywhere from €500 to €700/head, with choice lots pushing over €700.

Translated into €/kg, prices ranged from €2.30/kg to €3/kg for the dairy-crosses, but a number of them exceeded this.

Those prices aren't a million miles off those of plainer suckler-cross weanlings.

Good competition

A small number of continental-crosses from dairy dams were also on offer. A few of those heavier lots, over 350kg, ended up selling for in excess of €900, with a pair of Charolais-cross heifers weighing 378kg selling for €980 (€2.60/kg).

Regardless of dam breed, calves that had a good do this year sold well. Those weighing over 250kg saw good competition, with bids coming from ringside and online.

Friesian bulls were scarce, but those present sold from €2/kg to €2.10/kg.

There were a number of Jersey and Jersey-cross bulls on offer also and these generally made from €1.40/kg to €1.62/kg.

Predominantly a dairy-cross sale, there was a larger than usual sprinkling of suckler weanlings on offer in Bandon too and demand was similar to other suckler weanling sales across the country.