Numbers and prices soar as spring fever grips the marts
THIS spring’s mart trade has been dominated on the positive side by Turkish contracts, while among the negatives have been the slow rise in factory beef prices and concern about our trading future with the UK.
I can now tell you that last week saw all concerns cast aside as the trade shot into overdrive, like Red Rum on steroids.
Firstly numbers jumped at many marts to the point where week on week they doubled in some places, secondly some of the prices paid were truly exceptional.
At Mountrath, heifer weanlings hit €3.70/kg, a price driven not by shippers but by farmers. At Ballinakill both heifers and bullocks in the 400kg bracket regularly hit €3.00/kg.
Moving south, a batch of 15 660kg Aberdeen Angus at Gortatlea in Kerry made €1,560/ hd - I tried doing the maths on them but lost money every time.
Then there was the part-time suckler man, also at Gortatlea, who turned up with 31 weanlings, a combination of barely eight month old continental bulls and heifers and went home with €32,000. Not a bad return.
Yes indeed, we have truly arrived at that time of year when anything is possible in the minds of farmers, feeders and factory agents.
While the above are all obviously at the top end of what could be achieved last week, the point is they are just a few examples that illustrate the cattle business for what it is, a money eating machine.
The Ringside tables below largely concur with the analysis that the trade last week moved further into positive territory but because Ringside is composed of averages it offers a possibly less dramatic and more balanced overall analysis.
That said ‘spring fever’ sees the favourite bullock for summer grazing, the 400-600kg animal, rise by 4c/kg or €16-20/ hd in the 400-499kg section.
Meanwhile, the heavier forward store in the 500-599kg section went up 5c/kg on average last week. That equates to €25-30/hd.
Premium
We also saw a premium being paid to those with quality to sell, with 7c/kg or €28-42/hd of an increase in both sections for the top-end bullock.
The 350-499kg heifer also had a good week ringside, with her average price rising by 3-5c/ kg or by €10-25/hd - although it is noticeable that the biggest move in price here was for the poorer animal as she gained from 6-7c/kg which is €21-35/ hd.
Above these weights, however, the Ringside averages show the 500-599kg heifer as falling by €5-6/hd.
North of 600kg mark, heifer prices fell back by 3c/kg or €18/ hd on average. This is not as bad as you might think when you allow even with that €18 wiped off her value she is still 4c/kg or a minimum of €24/hd ahead of where she was two weeks ago.
The figures for the weanling trade continue to show the positive effect of those Turkish contracts, with the 100-299kg bull rising by 6c/kg to an average of €2.46/kg or from €246-735/hd.
The top of the market in this section, while falling 2c/kg last week, still sees your Charolais “king of the ring” at an average of €3.45/kg, with both the Belgian blue and Limousin tied for second place on an average of €3.16/kg.