Trade races on as cattle punters put their money down
You’d nearly have to form a syndicate to buy a bloody bullock.”
Whatever about Cheltenham, the cattle trade continues to race ahead, as bigger numbers of buyers hit the sales rings in earnest over the past week.
Beginning this week with the Golden Vale Mart group (GVM), Kilmallock had 2,419 animals on offer, of which 1,074 were calves. There was a very strong demand for dairy stock with the top animal making €2,020, and the majority reaching €1,500.
With 384 different buyers, competition across all categories was very keen. Mart manager PJ Buckley said , “A very good sale, with very little going home unsold. We had a very good turn out of bullocks, with prices pushing on from last week, with some of the choicer lots heading for €3 a kilo.”
Down the road in Abbeyfeale, which is also part of the GVM group, there was a turn out of 420 calves and weanlings on Saturday last.
Trade was “excellent all round” with sample prices including €305 for a three-week old Friesian bull calf and €435 for a Belgian Blue. Weanling bull prices included a Simmental weighing 355kg making €930, and an Aberdeen Angus weighing 300kg coming in at €730.
Meanwhile in Castleisland on Monday, Richard Hartnett reported the trade as “Good, and going upwards.” Calf numbers topped 1,000, up from 940 last week, as farmers continued to take advantage of the opportunity to cash in on demand.
Richard said it was very obvious that with the continued good weather, and grass unseasonably plentiful, summer fatteners had begun to return to the store ring in bigger numbers, in the hope of being able to fill their quotas for summer grazing.
It will be interesting to see whether cattle for grass will push on even further, having now breached the ceiling of €1,000 over the kilo for factory fit cattle in Castleisland.
Martin Ryan of Mid Tipp Mart in Thurles said their sale on Monday also saw increased numbers of buyers for 1,010 animals, of which 190 were calves. He told me that he spoke to a man who had just paid for a load of stock examining his sheet, and when asked how he had got on replied “The new gold?”
Martin said he watched with interest the dynamics of the sale. He told me one man who fattens about 1,000 cattle every year stayed for the entire sale buying just four animals. Yet, another man whose herd doesn’t often exceed 60 or 70 animals purchased 27! I commented it was an interesting observation but I wasn’t sure exactly what to take out of it. He replied that another older man who had also bought told him his thinking was, “So long as what I buy this spring doesn’t eat into my single farm payment by the end of the year, we should be alright.” The message there may be that summer grazers will be happy just tp “wash their faces” price-wise next autumn.
As for the calves, Martin said that they appeared to be up on the previous week, with 2-3 week old Holstein bulls making €250-260. The “good average Friesian” bull calf was making €300-320.
In the land where hurling reigns supreme, auctioneer George Chandler tells me that Kilkenny last Thursday saw increased numbers, with a total sale of 850 animals. George described it as, “An excellent sale all round with store heifers hitting €3.40 a kilo, and bullocks €3.50.”
The bigger sale brought more buyers just like in Thurles, with George saying he counted 52 buyers or potential buyers among the crowd.
Again it was a case of cattle sold for good money and the surge in grass growth that drove the trade, George said. The shortage of stock nationally has seen him take a good few calls from up the country enquiring as to availability of stock in his region. “Men are now travelling for cattle. I’ve had calls from Meath and Dublin.”
Also noticeable, however, according to George has been the fall off in buyers coming from the likes of Donegal and the north, wishing to source heavier type stock.
I can only speculate that as the prices have risen, there has been a levelling off in the profitability of moving heavy cattle from places like Kilkenny to the traditionally better paying plants in the North.
Last Monday’s calf sale in Kilkenny saw prices vary for Friesian bulls from €85 to €365. Continentals ranged from €300 to €505 for the bulls, with the heifers making from €280 to €460.
In Carrick-on Suir last Friday, auctioneer Michael Cunningham said their sale was dominated by farmer buyers with the previous week’s prices maintained or exceeded for all stock, as new buyers appeared with strong cheque books.
Michael said the trade in Carrick has been bolstered, like in many other places, by the return of buyers who for one reason or another didn’t get their full quota of stock last autumn.
However, he did observe that while there were plenty of buyers willing to push on the prices for stock suitable for autumn finishing, a few appeared to be taking the approach that it might be better to spread the money. I can see the logic of the attitude that if you can’t buy all you want for a “ survival” price, it might be wiser to stretch the money by buying some slightly lighter animals for less money, in the knowledge that you can at least keep your numbers up.
While feedlot and factory buyers are active in a majority of marts, there is no doubt that the real force behind the current trade are farmers. Whether cattle are dear or cheap, nothing colours our thinking quicker than the thought of grass growing and nothing to eat it.
