Strong trade for bullocks over 500kgs
WINSTON CHURCHILL once said of Russia “It’s a riddle wrapped in mystery inside an enigma”. The cattle trade is equally enigmatic, regardless of how long you stay in it and regardless of how often you study it.
Take auctioneer John Curran of Carrick on Suir’s statement to me on Friday about his sale: “It was dear, but good.”
What exactly does that mean?
The way I chose to interpret it can be summed up by nine 451kg Hereford bullocks bought at €2.22/kg that day by a local farmer in Carrick. Some would say they were not cheap. However, the buyer, and I met him, was a happy man because the stock were “good” -- they fitted exactly the age, quality and conformation profile he was looking for.
However the element that tipped his hand to buy them was the number together.
I don’t know if this story proves the old adage that “it’s not always about the price” but, for cattlemen, the inherent contradictions make perfect sense.
Now as it happens that €2.22/kg is well above the €2.07/kg that is the average this week in the Ringside table for Aberdeen Angus in the 400-499kg section. However it is 4c/kg less than the average of the top quarter price of €2.26/kg in that same section, so my man I think can be happy he “clicked” them just right.
Ironically, those same Ringside figures show that last week the actual overall average week on week price in the 400-499kg section declined by 2c/kg or €8-10/hd, while the top quarter eased slightly more at 3c/kg or €12-15/hd.
The only other section in the bullock side of the Ringside report that bobbled where price was concerned were those lighter 300-399kg cattle whose average lose comes in at 2c/kg €6-8/hd.
Meanwhile, the 500-599kg bullock rose 4c/kg or €20-24/ hd, while the 600kg+ animal gained a modest 1c/kg.
It’s a similar story among the heifers with the lighter stock, in this case the 350399kg animal taking a slight tumble at 3c/kg or €10.5012.00/hd, while everything from 400-599kg moves up.
This upswing sees the overall average price 400499kg heifer gain 4c/kg or €16-20/hd, with the heavier 500-599kg animal putting on 2c/kg or €10-12/hd.
The weanling trade was variable.
Bulls in the 100-299kg animal gained on average 4c/ kg or €4-12/hd, with the top quality weanling in this section putting on nearly twice the average at 7c/kg which is €7-21/hd.
The 300-399kg bull lost 3c/ kg and the 400-600kg animal was back 2c/kg – although the top quarter here saw a rise of 4c/kg or €16-24/hd. The driving force across the whole bull weanling trade are farmers with every mart manager I spoke to pointing out that exporters just can’t compete with the strength of the Irish farmers cheque book.