Camera at the Mart: super trade for dry cows and calves in Bandon

There was a good turnout of stock in Bandon Mart on Monday for its weekly cattle and calf sale and prices remained steady across the board.

Dry cow numbers have been extremely steady all year in Bandon and the good spell of weather along with ground conditions in west Cork saw farmers milk on a bit longer.

Concerns around silage and slurry storage have eased somewhat on many farms in the region and improving milk prices helped too.

It’s a big change from this time last year, when cattle were housed on many farms and uncertainty over nitrates stocking rates led to a spike in dry cow numbers appearing for sale.

That drove down cull cow prices, especially for parlour cows at the time, but this year it’s a different story.

Prices

Twelve months ago, lighter parlour cows could be bought at 80c/kg to a little over €1/kg.

That seems to have lifted by 20c/kg to 40c/kg and that in part could be down to the fact that cows were fed in the parlour a bit more as milk price went up through the autumn.

Looking through the prices from this week’s sale, the lower end of cows were making around €1.20/kg to €1.50/kg.

Where they fell into in that price range depended on their condition and a small number could be bought lower than these prices.

At the upper end of the Friesian cow trade, €2/kg was passed on a number of occasions, as factory buyers competed strongly for well-fleshed heavier cows.

Highest price on the dairy side of the dry cow trade was €1,740, which was paid for a 740kg Friesian cow (€2.35/kg).

A number of dairy dry cows weren’t far behind that price, but the vast majority of cows in good order were making from €2/kg back to €1.50/kg, with some very competitive demand from buyers.

Calves

Supply and demand was firmly in the sellers' corner in the calf ring.

There were 170 calves and runners on offer, with the bulk of those being young calves this week.

Demand from both farmers and exporters saw premium prices being paid out on calves of all breeds.

Angus- and Hereford-crosses under six weeks of age and especially those over 60kg appeared to be making north of €300 any time they came into the ring. A top price of €380 was paid for a pair of five-week-old Angus-cross bulls weighing 68kg.

Friesian bull calves benefited from the scarcity too and those over 60kg generally made between €130 and €150. Lighter calves tended to sell from that range back to €90.