The last 12 months will go down as another very good year for the weanling trade, with all breeds building on gains made during 2023.

Animal movement restrictions due to the outbreak and spread of bluetongue disease across northwestern Europe meant Ireland was the destination of choice for many weanling buyers in 2024.

These customers would normally have sourced their weanlings in mainland Europe, but couldn’t in 2024.

This meant live exporters were scrambling to fill both boats and lorries for much of 2024 and this lit a fire under the trade, especially from August onwards, the busy time for selling weanlings.

Weanling exports will finish 2024 close to 70% up on 2023 levels and current indications are that the demand will continue for Irish weanlings well into 2025 once Ireland can manage to keep bluetongue away from its shores.

Quality paid

Quality really came to the fore in 2024, with mart managers across the country reporting serious demand for quality weanlings from both farmer feeders and exporters.

Taking a look at the spread in prices across the two main breeds used in weanling production systems, we see that there was a spread of €1/kg and higher in some cases when the top weanlings in each weight category are compared with the lower third of weanlings.

For our Martbids analysis, weanlings are split into bottom third, average and top third for our weekly data.

Taking a look at Charolais weanling bulls in the 300kg to 400kg weight category - one of the most popular weight categories for selling weanlings - we see that the top third of bulls in this weight category came in at €3.90/kg in 2024 compared with the bottom third coming in at €3/kg, a difference of 90c/kg or €315/head on a 350kg weanling.

If a farmer had 20 weanlings to sell, that’s a difference of €6,300 from breeding top-third weanlings as opposed to bottom-third weanlings.

Moving to the lighter weanlings in the Charolais bull weanling table, we see that quality was even more important. Top-quality Charolais weanling bulls in the 200kg to 300kg weight category came in at €4.07/kg in 2024, while the bottom third came in at €3.04/kg - a difference of €1.03/kg or €258/head.

Moving to the Limousin heifer weanlings, quality also paid off, with the top third of Limousin heifer weanlings in the 200kg to 300kg weight bracket coming in at €3.61/kg compared with the bottom third coming in at €2.66/kg, a difference of 95c/kg.

In the heavier heifer weanling category of 300kg to 400kg, it was a similar story, with the top third coming in at €3.59/kg compared with the bottom third at €2.65/kg, a difference of 94c/kg.

There is a thought out there, especially in the west of Ireland, that as suckler numbers continue to decline, quality will become even more important, as buyers battle it out for a decreasing supply of top-quality weanlings.

For this week’s analysis, we took the top third of prices for the full 12 months of 2024 mart sales and compared this with 2023 prices and also compared the 2024 weanling prices with prices received by weanling producers five years ago in 2020.

Weanling heifers

Starting with the 200kg to 300kg weanling heifers, it was the Belgian Blue breed that once again took top spot in 2024 coming in at €4.12/kg.

This is the first time the €4/kg barrier has been broken for this weight of weanling.

Taking second place was the Charolais breed at €3.71/kg, with Limousin heifers in the 200kg to 300kg weight category coming in at €3.61/kg.

Moving up into the most popular weight category of 300kg to 400kg heifers, Belgian Blue heifers came out on top again, with the average price of the top third of 300kg to 400kg Belgian Blue heifers coming in at €4.36/kg, almost 80c/kg ahead of Charolais heifers in the same weight category.

Limousin heifers took up third spot with a price of €3.59/kg for the last 12 months.

In the heavier weanling heifers section of 450kg-plus, it was another case of as you were, with the top place going to Belgian Blue heifers at €4.56/kg, with Limousin this time taking second spot at €3.64/kg and Charolais in third position at €3.43/kg.

Weaning bulls

The Belgian Blue breed came out on top again in the weanling bull section, with lighter 200kg to 300kg Belgian Blue weanling bulls coming in at €4.05/kg, just ahead of Charolais weanling bulls in the same weight category coming in at €3.90/kg and Limousin bulls coming in at €3.82/kg.

A very high proportion of weanlings are sold in the 300kg to 400kg weight category and it was Belgian Blues that were most in demand, coming in at €4.05/kg, smashing the €4/kg barrier once again.

Charolais bull weanlings in the 300kg to 400kg weight bracket came in at €3.90/kg, while Limousin weanlings came in at €3.82/kg.

Moving on to the heavier weanling bulls in the 450kg-plus weight bracket, it was Belgian Blue that came out on top again at €4.06/kg.

Limousins this time took second place at €3.65/kg, while Charolais took third place at €3.64/kg.

The Belgian Blue breed had a clean sweep of all six top positions in 2024, with the breed also recording the largest gain in 2024 compared with 2023 prices.

Belgian Blue heifers in the 450kg-plus weight bracket came in 51c/kg higher in 2024 or €229/head higher on a 450kg heifer.

Five-year analysis

Taking a look at the five-year analysis from 2020 to 2024, we see a lot of breeds have recorded €1/kg or more of an improvement in that period.

Belgian Blue weanling heifers in the 450kg-plus weight bracket recorded the biggest gain of €1.56/kg or €702/head up on the 2020 price.

Breed breakdown

Most breeds saw a steady 2024 in terms of market share. Limousin continues to have the largest market share of weanling sales, narrowly shading Charolais by 0.29%.

Limousin had 35.56% of weanling sales in 2024 compared with 37.83% of the 2023 weanling market.

Charolais came in at 35.2%, unchanged from the 2023 figure.

The Aberdeen Angus breed continues to gain market share in weanling sales, with its market share of weanling sales increasing from 9.55% in 2023 to 11.31% in 2024.

The Belgian Blue breed also made gains in market share in 2024, coming in at 3.79%, up from 2.67% in 2023.

Herefords remained steady coming in at 4.84% compared with 4.51% in 2023. The Simmental breed lost a little ground coming in at 2.49% compared with 3.07% in 2023.