It’s been another positive week in the mart trade, with almost all categories of cattle up in price compared with the previous week’s trading.

Marts have seen a busier January compared with last year, with bidders returning ringside adding an extra buzz to proceedings along with adding some life to the trade.

Online purchasers haven’t gone away though and speaking to a number of mart managers this week, they say the hybrid model is here to stay, with a number of larger feeders and feedlot finishers still conducting a lot of business online.

It’s also proving very popular for part-time farmers when selling cattle, dropping off cattle and logging in later to see them sold without spending a few hours in the mart.

Talk of the town

The dry cow trade is the talk of the town this week, with some exceptional prices being paid for top-quality young dry cows with flesh.

Up to €2.50/kg and over is being paid for the right type of cow. I have seen 800kg to 900kg cows hit €2,400 in marts this week – that’s close to €250/head more than these cows would be worth in the factory at current prices.

Even poorer Friesian types have improved in the last week, with factory agents hungry for all types of stock. These cows are trading from between €1.30/kg and €1.60/kg this week, with cows with flesh attracting more interest.

Feedlot buyers have also upped their game this week. A number of factories are standing on for increased factory quotes for April and May and this has strengthened the hand of some feedlot buyers.

Our mart analysis table shows 500kg to 600kg heifers trading around the €2.50/kg mark, with the top end making €2.80/kg. These animals are up 5c to 12c/kg on the week before.

It was a similar story with bullocks, with the trade up again this week and typically trading about 10c/kg behind the heifers.

Dam breed on boards

Cork Marts has made the decision to include the details of the dam breed on mart boards from this weekend onwards. Further marts are likely to follow suit in the coming weeks.

Details of the dam breed will be displayed on the mart board, along with other calf breed information.

There have been a number of calls in the last few weeks from farmers and cattle buyers about increasing the amount of information that is displayed on mart boards and the Cork Marts move will likely put pressure on other marts to do likewise.

Boat to Cairo

I understand a Northern Ireland-based exporter is currently assembling weanlings for a boat to Egypt in the next few weeks.

While weanling numbers are low at this time of year, the presence of a number of agents wagging fingers ringside will likely add some life to the weanling trade.

They are sourcing weanling bulls of any breed weighing 250kg to 350kg.

In the past, these markets have generally been for the lower tier of weanlings, but the market outlet is still a positive development.

Four-thousand Friesian bulls set sail for Libya last Friday and the hope is that these boats will be back again in the near future for more Friesian bulls.