Nearly 214,000 cattle on the move in November

CATTLE farmers are gearing up for the annual beef sell-off, as export factory slaughterings grow from their July low point towards the November peak of 170,736 head.

Sales of cattle through the marts are building up also, towards their annual peak in October and November, when one-third of the year’s mart sales take place, as 521,375 head go through the rings in the two busiest mart months.

The comings and goings of 2.3m cattle per year are illustrated in the Cattle Movement Monitoring System (CMMS) statistics for 2006, which were recently published.