Camera at the Mart: Up to €1,760 paid for weanlings in Skibbereen

You’d be forgiven for thinking it was an autumn sale in Skibbereen Mart on Friday last, as the intake was busy all morning with all classes of adult stock and weanlings passing through.

Last week’s sale was cancelled due to storm Éowyn and this had a hand in the increase in numbers, but with beef prices riding high at present, there’s no incentive for a farmer to hold stock longer than they need to.

The west Cork mart held its first special weanling sale of the year and had around 300 on offer.

Demand for bull weanlings picked up where it left off in 2024 and exporters continue to drive trade.

There were five present at the ringside and competition between them was exceptionally strong, especially for bulls from 300kg to 400kg.

It didn’t stop there, as they were very active for heavier bulls too. This made it difficult for specialised bull finishers and farmers to compete. As a result, trade was red hot, with bulls with U grade potential mainly making anywhere from €3.50/kg to €4.77/kg.

Top price

A highest price of €1,760 was paid for weanlings. That price was achieved by a 500kg Aubrac-cross bull (€3.52/kg) and another handful of the same breed and Charolais broke the €1,700 mark.

The highest per kilo price in the bull weanlings was €4.77/kg and this was paid on a 300kg Limousin that sold for €1,430.

In the heifer section, the highest price was paid for a Belgian Blue-cross heifer weighing 340kg that also sold for €1,430 (€4.21/kg).

Exporters were still active here, but there were more farmer buyers involved in the heifer sale compared with the bulls.

Afterwards, mart manager Keith Mullaney was very happy with how the sale went.

“Trade was very hot from the word go and it got better as it went along.

"If I had that much more weanlings, I would have sold them too. Anything that was a very good U grade calf went well past €4/kg and most of the rest were over €3.50/kg, even heavy bulls were making that.

"The R grading animal is coming into good money too so those farmers are being rewarded.

"The bull beef men found it very hard to compete against exporters when it came for the heavier weanlings. Heifer trade is always that bit behind, but this enabled farmers to compete and they bought a good few.

"For January, it was never heard of in Skibbereen to have 300 weanlings and 450 cattle. It shows that good prices will draw cattle out. Given the demand for them this week, we’ve another weanling sale planned for next month."

In pictures