The mart trade this week has seen a further slackening in numbers as the trade begins to ease itself towards the Christmas break.

The conclusion of the GAA championships and the National Ploughing usually heralds a watershed in the cattle business — and this year is no different.

Autumn is a time of change, the days get shorter, the leaves change colour — and customers not seen ringside at cattle sales since the spring or the previous autumn begin to gradually reappear.

The trade at the marts over the last week has seen prices improve markedly for heavier stock as the factory price has stabilised and, in some cases, improved.

Clear divisions have opened up in the cattle trade this week.

While the mart trade this week is relatively stable — and improved for factory types in some places — there is no disguising the fact that the lighter plainer 350 to 450 kg Friesian/Holstein type bullock is slipping.

June of 2012 will probably be remembered by many farmers as the month that redefined the meaning of hardship.

In the course of putting this week’s report together, I had one man from Cork say, “The sun is shining, grass is growing and cattle are dear,” — which just about sums up the mid-June trade across the country.

The mart trade over the last ten days has been dominated by men who need to buy cattle to graze grass.

The things I learned this week, while talking to mart managers and their staff.

The mother of a Limerick teenager who died after a brutal beating has pleaded for an end to the senseless killings in Limerick as her sons’ killers were sent to prison yesterday.