This lot of seven April 2024 Belgian Blue bull weanlings weighed 398kg and sold for €3,370 (€8.47/kg).

The weanling trade continues to hit new heights and Castlerea was no exception at its weekly cattle sale on Thursday.

There were 400 cattle through the ring, with a mix of dry cows, suckler outfits, bullocks, heifers, weanlings and suck calves working their way through the rings.

Lot 29 stole the show, a pen of seven April 2024-born Belgian Blue bull weanlings weighing 380kg that sold for €3,370 each (€8.47/kg).

The total bill for the lot came to €23,590. The final bidder was one of the country’s main live exporters.

It’s been a whirlwind week for the weanling trade in many marts across the country, with exporters competing strongly against each other. Weanling exports are currently running 65% ahead of 2024 levels or 8,500 head.

Trading down

Other cattle also met a great trade, with exporters driving farmers out of the market of the heavy weanling and into the market for lighter weanlings.

Some of these farmer buyers are being forced to trade down to lighter weanlings and this is injecting some trade into the lighter weanling trade, with weanlings weighing between 200kg and 300kg regularly hitting €6/kg to €7/kg.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Castlerea Mart manager Brendan Egan said: “We saw a huge demand for the top-quality weanlings in the sale last Thursday, with exporters out in force looking for weanlings to fill orders for the continent, with Italy being the destination for a lot of the better-quality weanlings at the moment.

"In fairness, all cattle met a great trade on Thursday, with even some very good prices being paid for good-quality three- to four-week-old calves.”

Good-quality calves hit anywhere from €400 to €600/head for three- four-week-old dairy-cross calves.

These pair of April 2024-born Belgian Blue bull weanlings weighed 423kg and sold for €3,340 (€7.90/kg).

This May 2023-born Belgian Blue bull weighed 490kg and sold for €3,240 (€6.61/kg).

These pair of April 2024-born Belgian Blue bulls weighed 553kg and sold for €3,070 (€5.55/kg).

This August 2024-born Belgian Blue bull weighed 420kg and sold for €2,960 (€7.05/kg).

This June 2023-born Limousin bullock weighed 555kg and sold for €2,870 (€5.17/kg).

This August 2023-born Aberdeen Angus bullock weighed 610kg and sold for €2,790 (€4.57/kg).