Serious level of investment down at the marts
Prices are at the very least maintained, with the choicer animal pushing once again upwards i into uncharted territory.
I start this week with a report from last Saturday’s sale from Macroom.
Mart manager John O’Mahony said, “Trade was every bit as good as previous weeks, with the quality animal making big money.”
Leaving the more fancy cattle to one side, John drew my attention to two lots of “nice” Friesians, both weighing 341 kg (see prices below).
The prices paid, he reckoned, were as good a barometer of the confidence in the trade as anything else.
We turned over those two lots a couple of times in our conversation. We concluded that during the three weeks of poor weather in May, their owners must have taken the trouble to feed them while on grass in an attempt, successfully I suspect, to negate the effects of the weather.
Then, once the good weather arrived, they flew.
There is no doubt about what John said, “A few kgs of ration thrown under the wire does help put a shine on them and that makes a difference the day you sell.”
Fermoy/Corrin is also part of the Cork Marts group, and their sale on Tuesday of this week is also reported as being excellent, with my information being that prices were improved on last week. Conversation ringside yielded the opinion that despite the weekend downpours, the ground in that part of the world had dried out to the extent that it could take the extra water; even if prospects for a quality silage season had taken a hammering.
Still in Cork, Tuesday’s sale in Kanturk saw a full clearance of the 300 cattle and 300 calves present, with Michael Scanlon commenting, “Despite the depressing weather, cattle prices are holding firm. The market for heavier stores was flying.” However he felt that maybe a share of animals present were there to be sold due to continuing grass shortages on some farms coupled with the bad weekend weather, or possibly with men being over stocked. The turn out of heifers was less this week in Kanturk than previously, but as Michael said, “We’ve had a lot of heifers all along and they had to go scarce sometime.”
There was no shortage of customers across all classes however, with Michael saying, “Midland men, and the men from West of the Shannon in particular, were still very anxious for calves.” Friesian bulls for shipping made up to €160 each, with the older ones hitting €330. Hereford bulls made €220 to €440, with their BB and Continental cousins ranging from €300 to €500 each.
On the heifer side, Angus heifers made €200 to €445 each.
Over the border in Co Kerry, Philip Healy of the Kingdom Mart in Tralee said Monday’s sale this week was smaller than recently, but that demand was strong.
“If anything, the fleshy or forward store was up”.
Philip reckons his trade is been driven by a combination of plentiful grass and solid ground conditions.
“We didn’t get that the real heavy rain, and the trade is thriving as a result” he said. As to the specifics, apart from the excellent trade for the heavier store bullock, he said, “Both cows and beef heifers were a serious trade” — despite the factories “pulling” cows. We chatted for a while about the possible traditional fall-off in numbers at marts over the summer season, with Philip reckoning, “Numbers may quieten, but you’d expect the price to remain strong, especially for the forward store.”
To Thurles next, also on the bank holiday Monday, where Martin Ryan declared the trade to be “Booming, by God”. Martin said they had 644 animals on offer, “A fair turn out the time of year“.
Prices were up on the previous week, with heifers particularly up, and the stand out price being a Simmental heifer of 735 kg which made €1,630.
The increase in the price for heifers, Martin reckons, is due to buyers being happy to take a chance with them on the basis that they are a shorter keep and come to beef quicker.
A logical gamble in this game, given the serious level of investment required at present.
Cows too, as in many other places, met an improved demand.
He described the trade for younger stock as “fierce”. Trade in Thurles was additionally helped by the presence of an exporter who Martin said was in the market for “both heifers and bullocks for the continent in the 380 to 575 kg weight range.” The result of all this activity was an almost complete clearance.
Heading across into South Leinster and the sale in Carlow, also on Monday where Jimmy Walsh informed me that among a “very good” yard of cattle, they had 30 lots of heavier bullocks.
These, he said, were “very forward cattle, 700 kg coming off of grass”, and they added “great buoyancy” to proceedings, and again there was a full clearance.
I assumed that they would all be bought by factory men for more or less immediate slaughter. Not so, apparently, with the majority going to those who specialise in buying seriously heavy stock with the intention of putting a good number together and then, when the factories come calling, using the quality, weight and number to drive a deal the rest of us can only dream of.
It’s a serious game with very serious money involved. While these animals were making top dollar, the lighter store type bullock that could very well hit the weights shown above, come the autumn, was pushing up to and beyond €800 with their weight.
Jimmy reckoned that despite the cold wet snap in May, cattle actually still continued to thrive; then, with the arrival of the recent good weather coupled with excellent grass growth they really got going.
Turning west again and the sale in Kilmallock, Limerick, where Denis Kirby also commented as others had done that there were surprising amounts of stock about for June, with their sale topping out at 1,597, of which 582 were calves.
Denis said they again saw a lot of 2011-born animals this Monday, and despite the length of keep possibly required, they are meeting a very strong trade as farmers continue to buy for grass.
With ground conditions in Limerick holding up well and grass plentiful, the trade buzzed along very nicely.
So much so that a new record was set of €2,360 for a suckler cow with calf at foot. For the record, she was a three-year-old Limousin with a Limousin calf.
Denis said they had a good share of men who work full time and farm part-time in attendance, because it was a bank holiday, men whose occupations won’t see them at a mart again until probably the August bank holiday, he said.
All told, the trade is in fine order across the country despite the return of the rain, which may have dampened quiet a few jubilee barbecues in England this week, unfortunately.
I hope that the weather does improve, for no other reason than should our near neighbours progress well in Poland over the next few weeks in the soccer, they’ll need a lot of burgers and steaks — as will we hopefully!
Come on you boys in Green!
