As a general rule, looking at the Martbids database this week, trade is steady across the board, with no major increases or decreases in price in any stock type.
Over 18,000 cattle passed through Martbids rings this week, with 95% of these seeing the hammer fall.
The implications of bluetongue and exports have yet to be felt, according to mart managers.
Exporters to the continent are still active for weanlings and are willing to pay the price to source the stock they require, with only a small slippage in bull prices being seen this week.
Some exporters have eased slightly, though farmers appear to have taken up the slack anywhere marts have recorded this.
Just shy of 2,400 weanling bulls were sold this week across Martbids marts, with less than 1,300 weanling heifers sold.
Mart managers have also reported that while bluetongue has stopped the export of store cattle to Northern Ireland, agents from the North are still active for cattle fit for immediate slaughter and have been competing with southern agents for these lots.
Early calf trade also seems to be unaffected, with strong prices recorded for Friesian, continental and non-continental calves (as seen in Tommy Moyles’s Dungarvan report).
Our spring calf table will be available from next week onwards.
While we see on the database that there have been minor rises and falls across the board, cows have risen this week.
Similar numbers were present again across sales, with the average price jumping by 10c/kg up to €3.10/kg.
The bottom third of cows were also up by 8c/kg up to €2.53/kg, while top-end cull cows still rival some prime beef stock trading at an average of €3.73/kg.
Store and forward store cattle continue to perform strongly on price in both bullocks and heifers, with strong price rises seen in particular for the lower end of heifers quality-wise, which had been struggling on price since after Christmas.
Overall, average prices in the heifers were up by 5c to 7c/kg, with the only caveat of this being heavy heifers above 600kg, which saw an 8c/kg slip.
It was a similar case for bullocks, with lighter and forward store bullocks below 600kg performing well, while lots over 600kg are struggling to stay above an average €4/kg, with a 12c/kg fall this week.
As to why this has happened amid stable beef prices is unknown, but it may just be a minor blip.
As mentioned, weanlings are still performing strongly, with farmers being the most active around the ring in recent weeks.
Some exporters are still purchasing, especially the better types of bulls, while others have held back while they await movement of cattle still in their yards.
Weanling bulls are between +3c/kg to -6c/kg, with better-quality bulls slipping on price, which has dragged down averages. While lighter heifers below 300kg have held firm on price, we have seen a slippage of 11c/kg on average-quality lots from 300kg to 400kg, again being dragged by a fall in price for top-end heifers.
SHARING OPTIONS