Camera at the Mart: factory buyers drive forward store trade in Kilmallock

There was a solid trade across the board at Kilmallock Mart for its weekly cattle sale on Monday last.

Forward cattle performed best, with both heavy stores and dry cows attracting a lot of interest from factory buyers.

Angus held up well across bullocks and heifers, but Friesian store bullocks stood out when it came to forward stores, with a number of lots making from €2.30/kg to €2.39/kg.

Lighter Friesians were selling for either side of €2/kg, but the bigger cattle were chasing down Angus and Hereford prices.

Continental crosses were few in number and up to €2.81/kg was paid for a number of year-and-a-half-olds.

In the cow sale, numbers held up well and they were by far the largest category of adult cattle on offer. Demand has remained steady throughout the year for them across the country and it was no different at Kilmallock.

Buyers were willing to pay a bit extra for heavy Friesians or beef cross cows.

Suckler cows

A number of suckler cows made well over €2/kg and well-fleshed Friesians weren’t too far behind them.

Feeder cows mainly made from €1.30/kg to €1.55/kg, with forward cows pushing for €1.80/kg and over it on occasion.

Exporters were active in the calf ring and they had good demand for calves and reared calves.

There was a good sale for runners, with Angus and whiteheads making from €350 up to €500.

Speaking after the sale, mart manager Shane Egan said that while numbers are smaller at present, they are where you’d expect them to be for the time of year.

“Rain last week gave a bit more confidence, as it improved the grass situation and I’d expect that to improve demand a bit for those year-and-a-half-old cattle.

“Stores might have improved 5c to 10c/kg compared with last week and I could see numbers of them increase as sellers see prices improve.

“On the beef side, it is steady despite a bit of negative talk about the trade. We saw good demand around the ringside for forward cattle - they were a good trade - and dry cows have been the most consistent all year.”