Weanling heifers pick of the trade

LAST week’s ringside reports return a more mixed bag of prices after the bounce at the start of the month.

The general consensus among those closest to the mart trade was that plainer stock were moving, but at lesser money.

A cursory scan of the four tables shows that the weanling trade had a generally good week with the 400-550kg weanling heifer doing best, up by 20c/kg or €80-110/hd on average.

This could be down to these animals being chosen for their breeding potential as against their beef prospects, which is understandable given how the beef trade has struggled in recent times.

The 300-399kg weanling heifer also rose last week by 7c/kg on average or €21-28/ hd. When added to the 2c/kg of two weeks ago this is a tidy €27-36/hd.

The 100-299kg heifer was the only animal in the weanling heifer section that saw prices slip into negative territory, losing 7c/kg on average or from €7-21/hd but this loss has to be weighed against the almost equal gain of 6c/kg of two weeks ago.

In the bull weanling section it is all good news with prices rising across the board.

After the stagnation of two weeks ago, there was a serious bounce in the prices of those animals in the 300-399kg section as well as the 400-600kg section with both posting 11c/ kg increases last week.

This quotes to rises of €3366/hd from the 300kg animal up to those 600kg animals, while the 100-299kg bull increased a more modest €6-18/ hd or 6c/kg.

Mart mangers continue to marvel at the resilience of farmers, pointing out that it is farmer buyers who are the main movers at present ringside for weanling bulls with their interest being primarily, as reflected in this week’s ringside tables, in anything above 300kg.

Shippers continue to be the main buyers for the better but lighter continental weanling in the 100-299kg bracket.

Bullock prices last week were steady in the round with the trade that showing a 6c/kg or €18-24/hd rise in the 300399kgs section.

There was a 2c/kg increase for the 600kg+ bullock while both the 400-499kg and 500599kg categories slipped 3c/kg or from €12-18/hd.

Some of these average losses are being driven by smaller sales in some areas with the percentage of poorer quality cattle presented tending to skew the average prices on a per weight basis.