Numbers have fallen rapidly this month. In the final week of November, we had close to 17,500 cattle pass through the Martbids system. This week, that figure is back down to just under 10,000.

It’s to be expected, with many marts having finished up sales in the last week or so for three to four weeks of a break.

Despite these lower numbers, there is no greater appetite from buyers, who seem to have most of their purchasing done now and may be waiting for space to kill cattle before hitting around the mart ring again.

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Farmers have their sheds full and exporters aren’t as active as the pre-Christmas lull kicks in.

Some mart mangers have also noted that finishers have been looking to kill cattle in the last week or so ahead of Christmas, but factories haven’t bitten and they are left looking at these now until after the new year.

This has jammed up the system a little and would be the primary factor in the slippage of forward store prices around the ring.

Plainer cattle have seen the biggest fall from grace – where store dairy beef stock were hitting €5/kg a number of months ago, these types are back below €4/kg.

Cull cows are the outlier – all marts are seeing keen demand from factory agents.

The mart trade overall this week mirrors the factory trade, with a slippage in finished and forward animals while cows hold firm.

Martbids

Looking at the Martbids data base this week, it’s a sea of red arrows once again, with bullocks taking the lesser of the hits compared with heifers, though this could be attributed to fatstock sales the week prior bolstering prices in heifers, which have now come back down to reality.

Bullocks weighing 350kg to 400kg saw no change in the average price, owing to a slip in the top third of cattle by 14c/kg, while the bottom third actually rose by 10c/kg.

Bullocks in the 400kg to 500kg bracket have probably fared the worst, with a 7c/kg slip in price this week, with the average being €4.10/kg, the same price paid for average quality bullocks between 500kg and 600kg.

The top third of bullocks of these weight classes quality-wise are trading from 55c to 70c/kg above this, while the bottom third are trading 50c to 60c/kg behind.

Heavy bullocks above 600kg are sitting at an average of €4.05/kg, with 40c/kg either side depending on quality.

Heifers have fared much worse, but, as mentioned, this is likely attributed to inflated prices in weeks previous from fatstock sales.

Nearly all weight classes of heifers have seen their average dip below the €4/kg mark, save for the 400kg to 500kg types, which are averaging €4.04/kg, putting them 10c to 15c/kg behind their male counterparts.

Tight weanling numbers

Weanling numbers are tight at the minute, while exporters are less active for the better-type cattle, though in reality a lot of these types have already passed through the rings earlier in the season.

Average prices for bulls and heifers below 400kg are sitting around the €4.80/kg mark, with €1/kg either side of this for top or bottom quality cattle.