The mart trade continues to ease this week, with heavy bullocks and weanlings being hardest hit in the rings around the country.

Numbers coming out to sales continue to get smaller as well, with some small sales in the west this week.

Mart managers are expecting a very quiet December and January before the calf trade kicks off again in spring.

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Most farmers are filled up at this stage and the quality of weanlings that are being sold at the moment are back on where we were a few months ago.

Kilkenny Mart continues to get very solid numbers, with 620 cattle in this week’s sale, up slightly from the previous week’s figure of 580 head.

Speaking to George Candler, he said that bullock prices were back to the tune of €20 to €60/head on the previous week, with a little less appetite from factory agents and bigger feeders.

A number of Friesian bullocks in the sale in the 400kg to 500kg weight bracket sold for around €4/kg.

Heavy bullocks

Heavy bullocks were selling just under the €4/kg mark, with four Aberdeen Angus bullocks weighing 715kg selling for €2,780 (€3.89/kg).

Breeding stock are the one exception to the current downturn in the trade, with very good demand for good-quality in-calf heifers and cows.

Elphin Mart had a special sale of in-calf heifers on Monday night, with a lot of the heifers crossing the €5,000/head mark.

Good-quality cows and calves are scarce in the market, but, again, are making between €4,000 and €5,000 depending on quality and age.

The mart trade for cows has also eased, but good-quality cows are the exception, with plenty of factory agent interest in well-fleshed cows in marts.

Tuam Mart had a good entry of cows on Monday night, with a few cows crossing the €3,000/head mark.

A Charolais cow weighing 915kg hit €3,520 on Monday night, along with a 680kg Limousin cow selling for €2,920 (€4.29/kg).

Lighter dairy cows coming straight from the parlour have probably taken the biggest hit in the last few weeks, with cows under 500kg struggling to get across €1,000 to €1,100/head in some marts this week.

These cows were freely making close to €3/kg a few months ago.

Heavier dairy cows are meeting better demand, but factory quote reductions are taking their toll in the cull rings.

Martbids

Taking a look at this week’s Martbids analysis, we see that heavy bullocks were back in price.

Bullocks weighing over 600kg came in 14c/kg lower this week at €4.41/kg.

Lighter forward store bullocks in the 500kg to 600kg weight category were also back 20c/kg this week to €4.72/kg.

Heifers fared better, with top-quality heifers over 600kg up 30c/kg this week, with lighter heifers in the 500kg to 600kg weight bracket also up 20c/kg this week.

Poorer-quality dairy-beef heifers were back a touch, with lighter 350kg to 400kg heifers back 11c/kg to €3.58/kg.

In the weanling rings, heavy bull weanlings continue to be under pressure, with heavy bulls over 450kg coming in 20c/kg lower this week.