Heavier cattle continue to come under some pressure in marts with negative sentiment from beef factories filtering into the mart trade a little more this week.

Factory agents are still around the rings buying cattle and also very active online but they have amended the budget a little to take account of reduced quotes in factories.

Numbers of animals being sold through marts have also dropped off this week again.

The strong numbers that were being sold all spring is expected to mean that numbers will dry up quicker compared to other years.

Farmers have been watching the high prices and taken the opportunity to cash in earlier as opposed to waiting until later in the year as in previous years.

Mart managers around the country are confident that this will help the cattle trade through the summer and into the autumn.

The other piece in the jigsaw that will help the trade is the number of cattle being exported at the moment on a weekly basis. This is leaving some concern in mart manager circles, with quality store bullocks expected to be in very tight supply in the second half of 2025 given the volume of weanlings that are leaving the country at the moment.

Taking a look at this week’s Irish Farmers Journal Martbids analysis table, we see that it was the heavy cattle that took one of the biggest hits this week.

Average quality bullocks in the heavy 600kg+weight category came in at €3.92/kg this week, back 20 cent/kg on the previous week.

Bullocks

Lesser quality Friesian and diary beef bullocks were back 14 cent/kg this week to €3.59/kg. Lighter bullocks were a much steadier trade with confidence still good in the feeder market.

While lighter bullocks were still back this week, they were back to a much lessor extent than the heavier cattle.

The one exception to heavy cattle being back was the top-quality bullocks over 600kg coming in at €4.60/kg this week, up 11 cent/kg on the previous week. The heavy heifers took a bigger hit this week with average quality heifers in the 600kg+ weight category coming in at €3.97/kg back 29 cent/kg on the previous week.

Lesser quality heifers were back more, with the lower 1/3 of heifers coming in at €3.39/kg this week. Lighter heifers were also steadier with prices back 6-12 cent/kg in the 400-600kg range.

Grass buyers, despite the weather, are still anxious for cattle – with lighter Aberdeen Angus and Hereford cattle remaining in good demand.

The weanling bull trade saw a good lift this week, with all the top-quality range of weanlings coming in at €5.00/kg and over it this week.

Lighter weanlings in the 200-300kg weight bracket came in at a massive €5.36/kg this week on the back of good demand for younger autumn- born weanlings.

The popular 300-400khg weanling came in at €5.13/kg with the trade driven by exporters.

Heavier bull weanlings had a good week’s trading, with bulls in the 400-450kg range coming in at €5.05/kg.

Heifer weanlings were back on the previous week, with the top-quality weanling heifers in the 300-400kg weight bracket coming in at €4.75/kg, back 28 cent/kg on the previous week.

Lighter heifer weanlings were back less, with grass buyers again driving the trade for the lighter weanling.

The mart trade across the water in Britain and Scotland continues to hit new highs with record prices being paid for heavy cattle and a big demand for store cattle.

Store bullocks sold to a high of €5.47/kg last week in St Boswells market with heifers hitting €5.54/kg.