Camera at the Mart: third of weanling bulls exceed €2,000 in Kenmare

Trade hit levels never witnessed before in Kenmare Mart on Thursday last for the Kerry mart's weanling sale.

There were 170 weanlings on offer between bulls and heifers and no shortage of demand for either it transpired.

A total of 96 bulls went through the ring and of those, half sold for €1,900 or over and just over one third made in excess of €2,000 as farmers and exporters competed for both heavier and lighter bulls.

Anywhere from €5.30/kg to €6.06/kg was paid for those golden- and red-coloured well-muscled Charolais- and Limousin-cross bulls close to 400kg.

That money was available for lighter stock too that had U grading potential. Plainer animals were generally making from €4.50/kg to €5.10/kg, with some exceptions at either end of this price range.

Dominant exporters

Exporters dominated the upper end of the bull trade, purchasing about 70% of the bulls available, while farmers targeted plainer animals and heifers.

Weanling heifers were hitting the high notes too, with €5.50/kg to €6.55/kg available for heifers between 300kg and 400kg.

Top price in the heifers was €2,400, which was paid for a 386kg September 2024-born Charolais-cross heifer. At the lower end of trade, prices from €4.50/kg to €5/kg were available for a share of lighter or plainer heifers.

Speaking after the sale, mart manager Dan McCarthy said: “It was one of the dearest days since I became manager here 21 years ago. I never thought we’d see the day where we’d see weanlings open at €2,000.

"There was outstanding stock meeting outstanding demand between farmer buyers at the ring and exporters both online and at the ringside.

"I’ve never in my time seen the prices that were given for cattle as at this sale. It just shows that it pays to have the right quality and to keep them right and feed them on. They were coming into serious money.

"The quality was unreal, you could see that people are putting more time into their breeding and they’re getting paid for it. I think that’s the secret of it.

"There was a lot of doom and gloom about the sucklers being gone, but I’d be advising any farmer to get a few extra cows and take a chance from here on because prices are where they should be and the market is there for them.”