The country’s network of over 80 marts trading cattle enjoyed a positive year in 2025.

The number of cattle traded held steady at just shy of 1.8m head for the first 11 months of the year, despite the national herd condensing by over 60,000 head over the last 12 months.

Marts which operate on the premise of a percentage commission rate and do not enact a maximum commission rate saw income jump significantly on the back of cattle values rising by upwards of 40% (as estimated by the Central Statistics Office).

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The highest commission rates charged in some marts reached €50-plus per head for animals selling in excess of €3,000.

The increase in turnover comes on the back of a sustained period of higher costs, driven by council rates, insurance costs and general business costs.

Higher sales rate

The number of animals presented in sales actually reduced by 44,922 to 1.844m head up to the end of November.

However, a sharper trade throughout the year resulted in the number of cattle returning home unsold from sales falling by 40,517 to 45,938 head.

This is one of , if not the lowest, figures on record for animals not sold. It contributed to the number of cattle sold in marts to date in 2025 reducing by just 4,405 head, or 0.2%, when compared with the first 11 months in 2024.

Regional variation

The highest level of activity is in marts in Munster, which accounted for 48% of cattle traded, as detailed in Table 1.

The higher level of throughput in Munster is underpinned by recent expansion in the national dairy herd and marts carving out a more attractive market for calves and cull cows in particular.

This has been a significant factor in the growth in mart throughput demonstrated in Figure 1.

This was followed by marts in Leinster which traded almost 24% of cattle.

Marts in Connacht handled just over 19% of stock sold with the remaining 9% in Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan-based marts. As can be seen in Figure 2 sales figures were higher in the first quarter on 2025, likely driven by the sharp upturn in price.

Farm-to-farm movements

In contrast, farm-to-farm movements have recorded further decline in 2025, reducing by 55,284 head, or 4.4% to 1.21m head.

Similar to mart sales, the highest level of movements have taken place in Munster, accounting for 45% of all movements while movements in Leinster accounted for almost 33% of all movements.