There were 130 calves on offer at Tullow Mart for its weekly calf sale on Friday last.

It was mostly beef-cross calves on offer, with only a small number of Friesian bull calves available. These mainly sold for between €25 and €50.

There was plenty of variation in the prices paid for traditional beef breed crosses.

Taking home top price at last Friday’s sale was €350, which was paid for a Hereford-cross bull calf.

At the other end of the spectrum, Hereford-cross calves were purchased for €40.

The differential wasn’t quite as wide when it came to Angus-crosses, as most of them sold for between €40 and €165.

Continental-crosses were making anywhere from €50 to €270, with lighter calves available at lower money.

Tullow Mart manager Eric Driver reported the emergence of farmer buyers who were marked by their absence for a lot of what was a difficult spring weather-wise.

Brighter

“Thing’s were a bit brighter. We’ve seen a switch on in the last three weeks or so and what I’m noticing is there were a few more farmers back around the ring.

“It’s hard to blame them for not showing so far, as they were so sick of work after all the bad weather.

“Maybe in late March or early April we’d have a lot of farmers who would usually buy their 15 to 20 calves once ewes were lambed and sheds were empty, but they’re only coming out now.”

Numbers have been consistent at the Co Carlow mart all spring and echoing comments made by mart managers across the country, there is more demand for stronger calves, according to Eric.

“We had all shippers represented here this year and I think it should be noted that they have played a fair game this spring and kept calves moving throughout.

“There is a noticeable customer base for calves bred from Friesians. However, the crossbred calf has been a tougher sell.

“It’s something we need to watch, especially with our customers on the continent in mind and ensure those markets are there in future.

“We’d have a lot of new entrants to dairy, so the interest is there with them when it comes to using new technology such as sexed semen.

“As a result we saw a lot less Friesian bull calves and more beef-crosses,” he said.

Regarding new initiatives, Eric also felt that farmer buyers were beginning to heed the commercial beef value (CBV) a bit more.

“Farmer buyers are starting to take a little bit of notice in the CBV. It’s coming into their train of thought a bit more. I think with CBV, as long as the values remain true to themselves, then farmers will get confident with it.”

In pictures