Plain cattle a harder sell at marts

Marts: The trade for quality cattle continued to improve at the mart sales yesterday where the plainer lots were more difficult to sell, a trend which has become uniform across the country through the week.

Prices for the quality stock improved by up to €20 a head at some of the sales yesterday, but the plain cattle were a harder sell with fewer buyers and lower prices, widening the price gap between the two ends of the quality range.

While up to €320 over €/kg was being paid for the choice forward continental bullocks, some of the plain Friesian type stores were hard to sell at €/kg. Finishers are competing for the quality animals, but the plain cattle and the Friesian type are suffering the loss of the premia payments which boosted the prices paid for these animals in previous years.