Delvin Mart held its third calf sale of the year on Thursday last and like many other marts, it is discovering that this year’s calf trade is like no other. There were 136 calves on offer in the Co Westmeath mart, which reported a full clearance.

Beef calves made up most of what was on offer and stronger Angus- and Hereford-crosses were holding their own, with continental-cross calves and the majority of those aged from three to six weeks of age selling for €300 to €440 regardless of whether they were bulls or heifers.

Lighter beef-cross calves sold for under this price range. Top price of the sale - €460 - was paid for a five-week-old Simmental-cross heifer calf.

The general run of shipping-type Friesian bull calves were making from €180 to €260. At the upper end of trade, €360 was paid for a one-month-old Friesian bull calf.

Lighter Friesian calves or those with Jersey genetics were thin on the ground and most of those made from €40 to €80.

Exceeding expectations

Speaking after the sale, Elliott Potterton from Delvin Mart said: “Prices passed all expectations. We had a very strong contingent of local farmers and online buyers and this resulted in an exceptional trade.

“The farmers selling were extremely happy. We’re seeing an unprecedented demand for all stock, whether it’s a three-week-old calf or a 30-month-old bullock.

“The store trade is forcing people to at least consider calves and we’re seeing more farmers buying calves. They can buy and 20 calves and rear them for the price of three or four bullocks now.

“We’re seeing a lot of our beef-cross calves making between €300 and €400 and even at those prices, for a lot of people they could look at a good or a better value buy than a store bullock. There’s a bit more work involved, but if you have a good set-up, there’s good rearing systems can be set up at not huge expense.”

He also noted the difference in trade compared with most other years and said that farmers breeding the calves are now being rewarded more.

“It’s paying farmers to keep the calf a bit longer and have them that bit stronger coming to the mart.

“There’s a difference of €100/head between a two-week-old and a one-month-old Friesian bull calf.

“We had a farmer here this week that sold his Friesian bull calves for anywhere from €90 to €190. Looking back at this time 12 months ago, his Friesian calves made €1/head.

“The cows on his farm didn’t change but it just shows the difference that’s there in the calf trade now.

“We had a farmer who averaged just over €300 this week for a dozen Hereford-cross calves. This time last year, he averaged €96/head for Angus- and Hereford-cross calves,” he added.

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