No pressure when it’s the mart doing the selling, so all I need to do now is relax
I don’t know about you, but I seem to be getting more and more nervous about selling cattle with every passing year.
Twenty years ago, I would have strolled into that seller’s box, with the same confidence that Donald Trump strolls across the White House lawn. Nothing would faze me.
But now, the older I get, the more nerve wrecking the job of selling appears to be.
The razor moves shakily along my chin on the morning of the sale. Beads of sweat start to trickle down my forehead as the seconds count down to the moment of sale.
And finally, when my cattle appear in the ring, and the time comes for me to head to the seller’s box, it’s with a startled expression and a very unsure step that I move.
A bit like Brian Cowen last week when he wore that silly hat, it’s really not something that sits comfortably on me.
If I don’t get a handle on it soon, I’ll be a right emotional rag by the time I’m 50.
And when you think about it really, there is nothing to get too worked up about.
Not when it’s the mart that is arranging the sale, and very capable auctioneers doing the selling. You and I in the sellers’ box are merely the eye candy — we should relax.
The only worry we should have is on how we will spend all the money we make.
“Pressure,” as one farmer said to me over the weekend “is only for tyres.”
And in Bandon mart on Monday, sellers like myself really had very little reason to feel pressure — there was a flying trade. It was a day with plenty of buyers present at the ring and plenty of demand for the stock that appeared in it. Dry cows in Bandon mart on Monday sold from €70 to €585 with the kilo.
Aberdeen Angus and Hereford bullocks made from €275 to €680 with the weight. Continental bullocks sold from €335 to €705 with the kilo.
Friesian bullocks in Bandon made from €200 to €535 with the kilo. Heifers in Bandon sold from €265 to €800 with their weight.
No Breed Sex Weight €
8 Hr steers 400kg 925
1 Ch heifer 640kg 1440
1 Ch heifer 585kg 1280
2 BB heifers 475kg 1030
2 AA heifers 365kg 790
1 Fr cow 865kg 1410
1 Fr cow 780kg 1310
Unlike other sectors of Irish society, where a serious row is ongoing with regard to salaries and pay gaps, I’m proud to report that in Irish beef farming, no such pay squabble or gap exists. We are all paid the same. Man, woman or child, there is no difference in our take home pay packet.
No need for costly investigations here. All Irish beef farmers end up earning the same amount, the princely sum of nothing, or near enough to it. The Basic Farm Payment is our only lifeline and that comes in September to pay for the school books, and again in December to pay for Santa Claus.
The only outward sign of money in beef can be seen when you go for a meal and are forced to cough up €25 for a mouthful of steak. And that can be really hard to swallow, when the beef factory practically falls apart if it is forced to pay a meagre €4/kg to the farmer.
But that’s another story for another day. The focus here is on equal pay. And with regard to the hard working farmer, we are all equal.
But in the bigger picture in the Irish beef industry, clearly some are more equal than others.
Anyway we will move on, and it’s to Dungarvan mart we turn next, where on Monday, Friesian bull calves sold for up to €130. Hereford and Aberdeen Angus bulls sold for up to €340 a head, with quality Hereford heifers making up to €480 a piece.
No Breed Sex Weight €
1 Lm steer 590kg 1280
4 AA steers 552kg 1210
5 Ch steers 393kg 1040
4 BB heifers 456kg 955
4 AA heifers 393kg 800
1 Fr cow 815kg 1240
1 AA cow 855kg 1310
In Macroom on Saturday dry cows sold from €50 to €575 over the kilo. Hereford and Aberdeen bullocks sold from €280 to €740 over their weight.
No Breed Sex Weight €
1 Hr steer 740kg 1480
2 AA steers 465kg 1050
4 Lm steers 500kg 1240
3 Lm steers 445kg 1140
2 Lm heifer 425kg 995
1 Ch cow 825kg 1400
2 Lm cows 780kg 1300
Heifers in Macroom sold from €265 to €625 over their weight. Continental bullocks made €340 to €770 over the kilo. Weanling bulls sold from €240 to €565 over their weight, with weanling heifers selling from €230 to €550 with the kilo.
No Breed Sex Weight €
2 Lm steers 378kg 870
1 Hr steer 310kg 625
1 Ch steer 535kg 1135
3 AA steers 530kg 1115
2 AA heifers 498kg 1030
1 BB heifer 470kg 1000
1 Lm cow 455kg 1000
“We had a mighty trade at Kilmallock mart on Monday,” Denis Kirby of GVM reported. “Numbers on offer continue to be very big for mid-summer. Demand for stock is very strong and is being driven by farmers and exporters. Many farmers are selling stock early this year to take advantage of the very strong trade.”
Bullocks sold for €2.59/kg; weanlings for up to €2.79/kg. Dry cows hit €1,040 each, or €2.20 per kg. Heifers sold to a high of €2.47/kg. Dairy stock hit €1,200 (for a six-year-old calved cow).
Next Monday’s sale of weanling bulls and bullocks at Kilmallock starts at 10am with the late weanlings in Ring 2.
No Breed Sex Weight €
3 Fr steers 595kg 1275
3 Lm steers 535kg 1360
2 AA steers 505kg 1240
5 Hr steers 475kg 1100
4 Ch heifers 510kg 1410
2 Lm heifers 390kg 1015
6 AA heifers 360kg 780
We go next to Kilkenny mart and to George Candler for a report on last Thursday’s cattle sale. “We had another big sale of cattle with an excellent trade for heifers and cull cows. Some bullocks showed a reduction in price by €15 to €30 per head compared to last week’s returns. It is possible that numbers have peaked for the moment”.
Kilkenny mart had 950 cattle on offer. Continental cull cows in Kilkenny sold from €1.40 to €2.30 per kilo, with Friesian cull cows making from €1.10 to €1.70 per kilo.
No Breed Sex Weight €
1 Ch steer 440kg 1210
5 Lm steers 430kg 1075
5 AA steers 448kg 905
1 Ch heifer 380kg 810
3 Lm heifers 363kg 800
1 Ch cow 950kg 1850
1 Lm cow 710kg 1430
In Skibbereen, dry cows sold from €60 to €900 with the kilo. Aberdeen Angus and Hereford bullocks sold from €380 to €990 with the weight.
Continental bullocks sold from €385 to €800 with the kilo. Friesian bullocks in Skibbereen sold from €235 to €480 with the kilo.
Heifers in Skibbereen sold from €320 to €590 with their weight. Weanling bulls made from €405 to €610 with the kilo. Sucklers made from €1,000 to €1,390.
And finally for this week, just to remind you all that the year is moving on fast, Kanturk mart held a weanling show and sale on Tuesday last.
Mart manager Seamus O’Keeffe had all the details.
“We had our autumn-born 2016 weanling show and sale here on Tuesday. This sale was sponsored by Boherbue Co-Op Creamery. We had 270 top class weanlings entered, with the supreme championship going to a Blonde d’Aquitaine bull of 430kg, selling for €1,620 (€3.76/kg). The owner was Eamonn O’Mahony of Kiskeam and the buyer was Ned O’Connor, Kilbrin.
“Reserve champion went to a Belgian Blue heifer owned by Jeremiah Twomey from Donoughmore. This weanling weighed 415kg and sold for €1,450 (€3.49/kg) to Stephen Crampton, Birr, Co Offaly.”
