The cattle trade continues to perform very well in marts around the country with some mart managers reporting very small numbers in marts over the last week.

Decreased factory quotes haven’t hit the mart trade for heavy cattle, with factory agents still very active for cattle supplies in marts this week.

Mart managers are also reporting some great prices being paid for heavy dry cows, with factory agents very hungry for heavy well-finished cows this week.

Top-quality dry cows continue to hit near €4/kg this week, with the top third in the Martbids database coming in at €3.70/kg this week.

Average-quality cows came in at €3.10/kg, while dairy cows ranged in price from €1.80/kg for boner cows to €3/kg for well-fleshed cows fit for slaughter.

Cows come to market

Large feeders are also in the market for forward store cows for feeding.

There are reports of more cows coming to the market in some marts in the south this week, as early scanning identifies empty cows and farmers are taking the opportunity to offload at the higher prices.

At the other end of the scale, the calf trade continues to hit new highs, with some exceptional prices being paid for runner calves this week.

Carrigallen Mart saw €1,200 being paid for a four-week-old suckler Charolais heifer calf last weekend.

Hereford and Aberdeen Angus dairy-cross calves are also up in money this week, with €500 to €600/head being paid on a regular basis for two-week old-calves and €700 to €900 being paid for any calves with some age to them.

Reared calves

Reared calves are also in big demand, with both farmers and exporters in the market for reared calves or runners as they are more commonly referred to in the mart trade.

Corrin Mart in Cork had a big entry of runners on Tuesday, with a top price of €1,020 being paid for a pen of reared Aberdeen Angus bull calves weighing 142kg.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, mart manager Sean Leahy said: “We have a lot of farmers in the market for reared calves.

“Some think the weanling market is too hot to handle and are dropping back to reared calves, but they are still a big spend based on the weight you are buying.

“Exporters remain very active, with farmers and exporters battling it out for the best calves this week.”

Taking a look at this week’s Martbids analysis table, we see that it was a pretty steady week all round for most types of cattle.

Heavy bullocks were a similar trade to last week, with top-quality bullocks in the 600kg-plus category coming in at €4.21/kg this week, back just 5c/kg on the previous week.

Heavy heifers actually went up a touch in marts this week, with top-quality heifers in the same weight category coming in at €4.38/kg, up 5c/kg.

Weanlings were back a touch on last week, with top-quality weanlings in the 300kg to 400kg category coming in at €5.44/kg, back 6c/kg on the previous week.

Average-quality bull weanlings in the same weight bracket were back 17c/kg on last week, coming in at €4.62/kg.