Mart prices: calf prices hold firm in Carnew under new trading protocols

Even with marts closed, the Irish Farmers Journal Martbids app allows the livestock team to track the trade and deliver mart reports to farmers over the next few weeks.

Trading restarted in Carnew Mart on Wednesday, with operations strictly following the newly revised protocols.

Sellers dropped their calves to the mart and the calves were numbered as usual. One person at a time, buyers were let in to view the calves and they were allowed to make an offer on groups of around 30 calves before the next buyer was given a turn.

The seller was contacted by phone to either accept or reject the offer. If the offer was accepted, the mart put through the movement and took the payment for the farmer and the purchaser went away with their calves.

Teething problems

Speaking to mart manager David Quinn, he said: “There were certainly some small teething problems and the time involved was significantly higher, but, at the same time, it was great to get back up and running.”

Over 350 calves - 270 of which were males - were traded on the day and Quinn said that “all in all, prices were very similar to the last live sale we had here”.

Prices

There was four export buyers present and for these, Quinn said there was a selection of about 200 export-type calves, consisting of 150 Friesians and 50 Angus bulls. All were sold.

Overall, Friesian bull calves averaged €35/head. A typical range for smaller Friesians was €15 to €40/head, while stronger calves made between €60 and €100 each.

Angus bull calves averaged €107/head, with a general range of between €65 and €150 each.

There were some dealers and larger farmer buyers present too.

Hereford bull calves averaged €140/head, with a typical range of €90 to €200/head and some stronger lots stretching up to €250/head.

Continentals went well, with Belgian Blue-crosses ranging from €225 to €350/head, Charolais-crosses from €160 to €200/head and Limousin-crosses from €100 to €290/head.

The mart plans to work a similar system for a general cattle sale on Saturday.