For years the trend in calf prices followed a pattern almost as predictable as the grass growth curve. The only variations tended to be when storms impacted ferry sailings and this handbrake on exports created an over supply the following week.
They’d start off strong across the board when numbers are small. As the supply of Friesian bulls rises their price weakens weekly before rising slowly as numbers drop off in April and May. Textbook supply and demand.
Traditional beef breed sired calves experience similar trends. February and early March are when prices peak as farmers chased a limited pool of early Angus- and Hereford-cross calves as they target a long first grazing season. From those highs, prices would taper away gradually as the season petered out into late May.
That’s what everyone was familiar with, and while there were rumblings that trade could be strong following good demand in the run up to Christmas, no one could have foretold what would unfold.
At the end of February, Friesian bulls sold for €132/head, their lowest weekly price of this spring.
For nine of the next 12 weeks, they experienced price rises before hitting a high of €308/head. A lift of €176/head in that timeframe.
This spring they sold for an average of €209/head, over three times their average price of €67/head in 2024. This price is also above the average price paid for all categories of traditional beef breed-cross calves last year.
Angus- and Hereford-crosses provided the backbone of the calf trade this spring accounting for between 70% to 80% of all calves traded for much of the spring.
Of these, Angus-crosses usually accounted for a solid half of the calves available from March onwards. Bull calves averaged €355/head this spring, over double the €175/head average in 2024.
The week leading into St Patrick’s Day saw both Angus-cross bulls and heifers make their lowest price where they sold for an average of €279/head and €219/head respectively. From there the only way was up and at a time when you would normally expect prices for them to decline, they rocketed.
With an odd exception they shot up on a weekly basis as export demand drove the trade.
With June in sight the price for Angus bulls appeared to plateau as it remained at a spring 2025 high of €451/head for two weeks in a row.
Heifer calf prices were still rising as June approached and they hit their highest price of €374/head.
At €376/head, Hereford-cross bulls were up €179/head compared to their spring 2024 price of €197/head. They experienced their lowest point at the end of February when they averaged €294/head and this was the only week of the year where they were making less than €300/head.
Prices for them were rising by almost €20/week from there to the start of June where they averaged €481/head.
Hereford-cross heifers trade hit their lowest weekly average price of €236/head at the start of March and from there, with one exception, their price increased weekly to a high of €399/head at the beginning of June.
Continental-cross calves held their own in term of numbers but combined there were unable to outnumber Friesian bulls or either of the sexes for Angus-sired calves in terms of volume.
Belgian Blue-crosses were by far the most available and bulls traded hands for an average of €440/head while heifers averaged €388/head.
The Irish Farmers Journal calf price table is based on the weekly data from the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) collated from mart sales of calves aged under six weeks old. Angus-, Belgian Blue-, Friesian- and Hereford-sired calves accounted for 92% of all traded this spring.
Jonathan O’Sullivan, CEO, Cork Marts
We predicted a better trade compared to other years at the start but no one could have predicted this.
The strength of the trade looked after the quality. Dairy farmers stayed improving their calves the whole way through and were well rewarded this year. Farmers got to buy earlier as there were less Friesian bulls around and more coloured calves out early on.
Those who thought they bought dear at €300 and €400 then have great business done when you see where things are now. The export trade has got stronger and €500 to €700 is the new normal for those calves. It’s hard for farmers to compete.
Across the group, it’s been an exceptional year. We’ve sold 92,400 calves to the 31 May which is up 13,000 head compared to last year. It’s all positive this spring. Exports were very strong. Just for May alone, 84% of calves sold through the group were exported.
Every week, we consistently had 11 exporters in each of our six marts. The weather was fair and Brittany Ferries going on alternate days to Stena gave us sailings every day of the week. If there’s a concern, it’s that the increase in calves sold and exported, that would have been part of our weanling sales are now gone out of the system. On top of that you have fewer cows so the pool of animals is going to be smaller for sales in the autumn and next spring.
Seamus McMenamin, Bord Bia
The calf trade has been completely driven by exporters. The feedback we’re getting is very positive. Spanish buyers have upped the game in terms of the quality of calf they’re looking for and they’re willing to pay more for them as the Irish calf has come up to par in terms of price and quality to French calves. The Spanish have been a growing market for Irish calves.
The forecast for calves was way down with a combination of bluetongue and contracting herds all over Europe making countries look at their own markets first. German beef prices have gone up and that has impacted what they were willing to export. This had a knock-on effect on everyone as more calves are staying in Germany, but they are also dealing with the impact of bluetongue and foot and mouth disease. The Dutch for example have imported about 42,000 less calves from Germany and that resulted in them paying more attention to Ireland than was initially envisaged. Dutch buyers were very quiet at the start of the year and thought they could do without Irish calves but they became very active when supply was limited elsewhere.
All indications are that the Dutch market will effectively be closed to Irish calves from 2026 with the Dutch veal industry scheduled to the Veal Forward Plan from early next year. Restrictions within this industry-led plan around feeding intervals and IBR status will be extremely challenging to Irish exporters to overcome. Irish State bodies continue to engage closely with Dutch representatives around the implementation schedule of this plan.
The type of calf being exported has also changed.
There are far fewer Friesian bulls about, and to the middle of April 58% of all calves exported were beef sired. It was only 40% the same time last year.
For years the trend in calf prices followed a pattern almost as predictable as the grass growth curve. The only variations tended to be when storms impacted ferry sailings and this handbrake on exports created an over supply the following week.
They’d start off strong across the board when numbers are small. As the supply of Friesian bulls rises their price weakens weekly before rising slowly as numbers drop off in April and May. Textbook supply and demand.
Traditional beef breed sired calves experience similar trends. February and early March are when prices peak as farmers chased a limited pool of early Angus- and Hereford-cross calves as they target a long first grazing season. From those highs, prices would taper away gradually as the season petered out into late May.
That’s what everyone was familiar with, and while there were rumblings that trade could be strong following good demand in the run up to Christmas, no one could have foretold what would unfold.
At the end of February, Friesian bulls sold for €132/head, their lowest weekly price of this spring.
For nine of the next 12 weeks, they experienced price rises before hitting a high of €308/head. A lift of €176/head in that timeframe.
This spring they sold for an average of €209/head, over three times their average price of €67/head in 2024. This price is also above the average price paid for all categories of traditional beef breed-cross calves last year.
Angus- and Hereford-crosses provided the backbone of the calf trade this spring accounting for between 70% to 80% of all calves traded for much of the spring.
Of these, Angus-crosses usually accounted for a solid half of the calves available from March onwards. Bull calves averaged €355/head this spring, over double the €175/head average in 2024.
The week leading into St Patrick’s Day saw both Angus-cross bulls and heifers make their lowest price where they sold for an average of €279/head and €219/head respectively. From there the only way was up and at a time when you would normally expect prices for them to decline, they rocketed.
With an odd exception they shot up on a weekly basis as export demand drove the trade.
With June in sight the price for Angus bulls appeared to plateau as it remained at a spring 2025 high of €451/head for two weeks in a row.
Heifer calf prices were still rising as June approached and they hit their highest price of €374/head.
At €376/head, Hereford-cross bulls were up €179/head compared to their spring 2024 price of €197/head. They experienced their lowest point at the end of February when they averaged €294/head and this was the only week of the year where they were making less than €300/head.
Prices for them were rising by almost €20/week from there to the start of June where they averaged €481/head.
Hereford-cross heifers trade hit their lowest weekly average price of €236/head at the start of March and from there, with one exception, their price increased weekly to a high of €399/head at the beginning of June.
Continental-cross calves held their own in term of numbers but combined there were unable to outnumber Friesian bulls or either of the sexes for Angus-sired calves in terms of volume.
Belgian Blue-crosses were by far the most available and bulls traded hands for an average of €440/head while heifers averaged €388/head.
The Irish Farmers Journal calf price table is based on the weekly data from the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) collated from mart sales of calves aged under six weeks old. Angus-, Belgian Blue-, Friesian- and Hereford-sired calves accounted for 92% of all traded this spring.
Jonathan O’Sullivan, CEO, Cork Marts
We predicted a better trade compared to other years at the start but no one could have predicted this.
The strength of the trade looked after the quality. Dairy farmers stayed improving their calves the whole way through and were well rewarded this year. Farmers got to buy earlier as there were less Friesian bulls around and more coloured calves out early on.
Those who thought they bought dear at €300 and €400 then have great business done when you see where things are now. The export trade has got stronger and €500 to €700 is the new normal for those calves. It’s hard for farmers to compete.
Across the group, it’s been an exceptional year. We’ve sold 92,400 calves to the 31 May which is up 13,000 head compared to last year. It’s all positive this spring. Exports were very strong. Just for May alone, 84% of calves sold through the group were exported.
Every week, we consistently had 11 exporters in each of our six marts. The weather was fair and Brittany Ferries going on alternate days to Stena gave us sailings every day of the week. If there’s a concern, it’s that the increase in calves sold and exported, that would have been part of our weanling sales are now gone out of the system. On top of that you have fewer cows so the pool of animals is going to be smaller for sales in the autumn and next spring.
Seamus McMenamin, Bord Bia
The calf trade has been completely driven by exporters. The feedback we’re getting is very positive. Spanish buyers have upped the game in terms of the quality of calf they’re looking for and they’re willing to pay more for them as the Irish calf has come up to par in terms of price and quality to French calves. The Spanish have been a growing market for Irish calves.
The forecast for calves was way down with a combination of bluetongue and contracting herds all over Europe making countries look at their own markets first. German beef prices have gone up and that has impacted what they were willing to export. This had a knock-on effect on everyone as more calves are staying in Germany, but they are also dealing with the impact of bluetongue and foot and mouth disease. The Dutch for example have imported about 42,000 less calves from Germany and that resulted in them paying more attention to Ireland than was initially envisaged. Dutch buyers were very quiet at the start of the year and thought they could do without Irish calves but they became very active when supply was limited elsewhere.
All indications are that the Dutch market will effectively be closed to Irish calves from 2026 with the Dutch veal industry scheduled to the Veal Forward Plan from early next year. Restrictions within this industry-led plan around feeding intervals and IBR status will be extremely challenging to Irish exporters to overcome. Irish State bodies continue to engage closely with Dutch representatives around the implementation schedule of this plan.
The type of calf being exported has also changed.
There are far fewer Friesian bulls about, and to the middle of April 58% of all calves exported were beef sired. It was only 40% the same time last year.
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