Strong trade for store cattle
The forward bullocks were dearer by up to €30/head at Ennis Mart yesterday, while the trade remained upbeat at Bandon Mart yesterday and trade continued very firm for small bullocks at Kilkenny Mart.
Strong farmer demand in a tight supply situation is pushing prices which are showing little or no change from the same week last year for store animals, despite the removal of direct payments from animals purchased in 2005.
There were still a few heavy bullocks with a premia available on offer at Bandon yesterday where they made €270-€350 over €/kg. The general run for the heavy bullocks was €200-€310 over which was almost identical to the run of prices for the same day at Bandon last year. Store heifers made €150-€190 over at yesterday’s sale.
At Kilkenny where there was an entry of 460 head for yesterday’s sale the bullocks over 600kg made €300-€390 over on the back of expectation of a strong beef price for cattle finishing in late Spring-early summer. Bullocks in the 400-500kg range made €280-€340 over with the plainer lots under 400kg dropping back to €180 over.
These prices show very little change from the same day last year at Kilkenny where the best of the 400-500kg bullocks made up to €356 over and the lighter animals peaked at €312 over. Yesterday a lot of three 517kg Simmentals made €820 and a lot of four Belgian Blues weighing 563kg sold for €850. A Charolais scaling 456kg sold for €790 and three Limousin weighing 384kg sold for €700. Beef heifers made €250-€350 over and stores sold at €150-€230 over.
Numbers on offer were similar to last week at Ennis.
