Close to 20% increase in calf throughput for Cork Marts in 2025

In 2025, there was a big swing back to calves with a surge of demand from the continent, largely driven by the challenge bluetongue posed to calf supply there.

As calf and cattle prices rose weekly, it became difficult for farmers to price calves at home so they took the mart option.

This resulted in calf throughput at Cork Marts increasing by almost 20%.

“We sold 114,000 calves across the six mart centres in the group last year; that’s a rise of 17% on 2024.” Said CEO of Cork Marts, Jonathan O’Sullivan.

He attributed much of this increased throughput down to the constant rise in price especially from late March.

“It’s all down to the fact; calves were hard to value as the price kept moving upwards.

“Farmers who may have sold calves in the yard in recent years opted to test the market and sell a few calves in the mart ring to see their real value.

“When they saw what they were getting a lot of them stuck with the mart option.

“We never saw the likes of last year coming.

“April and May were busier and got busier week on week.

“ We were looking at calf prices in February and March and thought they were dear but by April and May, those calves bought early on looked great value.”

He expects things to be steadier in times of price and the weekly climbs experienced last spring as less likely to be seen this year.

“All things are pointing to a relatively solid year. Prices are starting off good but may come back yet. I think calves will still be dearer somewhat than February and March. There’s always the chance of weather trouble, holding boats up but we’re used to that.

“Bluetongue is another concern and while it might be an inconvenience, it may not be end of the world we might have feared it could be here unless there’s a new strain of it. Where it was in the continent, they look to have got to grips with it.”

Something he has noticed as last year went on was that farmers were willing to pay a premium for a stronger, near reared calf.

“There is a trend emerging, in that a lot of customers seem keen for reared calves.

“There seems to be more demand for them compared to any other year so if a dairy farmer has the space and labour to hold onto them till a later stage, it could pay well.”

Bandon Mart report

Bandon Mart held their second calf sale of 2026 on Monday last with 264 calves under 10 weeks of age on offer.

Prices continued where they left off in December with most beef-cross calves weighing between 50kg and 70kg trading for between €255 to €450.

Those a bit heavier made from the mid-€400 mark up to €600 while stronger traditional beef breed- or continental-cross calves, if they were pushing for 100kg most were making from €620 to €735.

Friesian bull calves generally traded for between €180 to €300 with a very small number selling over and under this price range.

Numbers were similar in 2025, but most Angus-crosses weighing over 60kg tended to sell for between €175 and €320 with a share of those closer to 80kg making up to €400.

Top price in early January last year was €585 for a group of one-month-old Belgian Blue-cross bulls that weighed almost 90kg, this year it was comfortably €150 dearer but there were still heavy Belgian Blues bought close to last years prices too.

At 56% Angus-cross calves made up the majority of the calves on offer.

In contrast, there was less than a dozen of their traditional beef breed partner, Hereford-crosses present.

It’s very early in the year yet but the proportion of calves available from both breeds could be one to watch. Meanwhile, Friesians accounted for 27% of calves in Bandon this week.

Mart Manager, Sean Dennehy was pleased with how things went and, ahead of the 2026 calf buying season, he encouraged farmers to plan ahead for this spring.

“If there’s any calf-rearing workshops like the ones run by Animal Health Ireland (AHI) and Teagasc I’d encourage any farmer that’s buying young stock to go to them. Even if you’re well used to rearing calves, those events are a refresher and are good to attend.”

The spiralling cost of stock last year saw many farmers find themselves rearing calves when that wasn’t necessarily their plan at the start of the year.

He said: “I think people will be more prepared this year compared to last spring when calf prices came as a bit of a shock, especially when they kept climbing from April onwards.

“When cattle prices went mad back then, a lot of farmers opted to buy lighter weight cattle to suit their budget and some farmers then dropped down to buying calves.

“Some farmers hadn’t done so in many years and others were buying and rearing calves for the first time.

“They’re a different animal entirely to a weanling or store and there were a few tough lessons as a result especially with pneumonia or coccidiosis.

“Facilities may not have suited calves or just the skills were rusty so now is the time to brush up on the skills needed to make for a smoother running of things when it gets busy.”

In terms of the market, he expected things to remain similar to last year but more consistent throughout the season.

“That will allow everyone to plan for their own system better this year.

“Another feature we saw in 2025 was the standard of calf lifted immensely.

“They were heavier coming into us here and dairy farmers were rewarded well for their efforts.

“Given where milk price is, the calf now has a higher value compared to before and could fill a gap when milk price is down.

“We’ve massive demand for strong, well-reared calves from across all our customers.”