High mart prices show ‘no sign of slowing down’

While three successive months of milk cuts may have dampened spirits in the dairy sector, the mart trade has gone from strength to strength over recent weeks and is show ing no sign of slowing down.

Terry McGovern of Dowra Mart says that it’s an excellent period for both cattle and sheep.

“Prices have never been so high, it shows no signs of slowing down. The wet weather we had up until last week didn’t have much of an impact.”

This has all translated into good prices across the board as Terry explains.

“Heavy cows regularly reach €3/kg. Last week we had an animal that was €3.22/kg, meaning she reached €2,560 for 795kg. Friesian cows weighing around 600kg have reached €2.70/kg, this is well above this time last year, when similar cows were making on average 50c/kg less than they are now.”

The increase is due to the market forces according to Terry.

“There’s been an increase in demand for beef, which is helping to drive prices. If a cow loses a calf they are more likely to sell the cow than find a replacement calf because prices are so good.”

Terry reports that a lot of suckler cows are being sold, which he senses could be a sign of farmers cutting back on numbers.

“A lot of farmers, especially those in the west are cutting back on number because of things like feed, fertiliser and silage are becoming too expensive. It’s sad to say, but it’s the reality of it. In time this will cause a drop off in numbers and more Friesians than continental breeds coming through.”

These high prices are also being seen in the weanling trade as Terry explains: “Weanlings a very dear. There are a lot of bull calves going for shipping, they sell for around €3/kg but can reach as high as €4.20/kg.”

Sheep

Sheep are also holding their own as Terry explains.

“Fat hoggets are up €10 a head. The highest price for an animal weighing between 58-60kg is €174. Around 800 were sold recently.

“Spring lambs are scarce but selling well. One weighing 50kg will fetch €170, but we only sold around eight last week.

“Ramadan is a big driver of the high prices. It’s coming to an end soon, but I don’t know if it will have much impact on prices.

“Fat ewes are very dear also, with an average price of €2/kg.”

Optimistic

A similar trend is at play in Ballyjamesduff Mart where manager John Tevlin says the recent upturn in prices has brought buyers out in force.

“With the good weather farmers are more optimistic now and are happy to buy. Some would have anticipated this and held stock, waiting for things to clear up, before bringing them to the mart.”

This has caused some remarkable prices to be fetched according to John.

“We had a limousin cow weight 960kg make €3,120. Lighter cattle are making €4/kg and in some cases more. Northern buyers are very active as well. They just buy them online and send lorries down to collect. Factories are buying a lot of forward beef cattle.”

Ballyjamesduff has also taken part in some high profile sales recently and has a few more on the horizon.

“We had the sale for Michael O’Leary at Gigginsotwn last Saturday. Angus are a very popular breed at the minute so there was good demand,” he said adding they also handled the Lisduff Sale for Leo McEnroe.

A dairy breeding sale will also take place on Wednesday, April 26 with calved and in-calf stock.

“Dairy cows are still selling well despite the drop in prices. This time of the year there’s always a good trade for dairy cows. They’re making €1,800-€2,000 which is great.”

There’s also a good demand for sheep.

“We have sheep sales on Wednesday evening, the sheep sales are going well. It wasn’t going well due to issues with weather and trade, but it picked up.”