No real dip in appetite for stock

THE message is simple: the ringside figures for last week show an almost universal falloff in price across almost the entire bullock table.

The exception is a modest 2c/ kg or €10-12/hd increase in the value of the top quarter of the 500-599kg section.

There was little spared among the heifers either, as the table shows everything below 500kg also fell last week.

The potential for a fall has been well flagged in recent weeks, and the average prices were down from 1c/kg or €3-4/ hd in the top quarter of the 300-399kg section to 11c/kg or almost €55/hd in the overall average price in the 400-499kg section.

There appear to be two issues running side by side which are helping ease prices.

The first is that most summer grazers are now full, and while a lot of managers are noticing a continuing good flow of customers or potential customers ringside, they are probably not as willing to ‘take the other fellow out of it at any price’.

The second is the fact that more Friesian-type stock – and that includes Aberdeen Angus and Hereford crosses – than usual for this time of year are turning up at some marts.

The reason for this is that as grass supplies tightened recently, some dairy farms sold on the yearling/store bullock to free up more ground for the cows, and further help maintain milk yield by buying nuts with the proceeds.

Hence mart managers have been commenting on the fact there appears to be no real falloff in appetite for stock, but it is price-dependent.

Those extra numbers of dairy stock appear to be generally in the 350-450kg weight category. This is a factor in the average price in the 300-399kg bullock section falling by 6c/kg or from €18-24/hd, while the overall average price in the 400-499kg section fell 11c/kg last week.

Above this weight the falls are less dramatic at 3c/kg or €15-18/hd in the overall average of the 500-599kg section, with the 600kg+ section shedding 4c/kg or a minimum of €24/ hd last week.

The heifer table is like the proverbial game of two halves with everything above 500kgs gaining ground. The best of these gains were in the 600kg+ section which despite losing 3c/ kg off the price,the better heifer at this weight gained 6c/kg or €36/hd on average last week, driven by a massive jump in the value of the bottom quarter of 20c/kg or €120/hd.

The importance of the live shipping trade can be measured from last week’s bull weanling figures. Despite showing a fall in the average value of 7c/kg or from €7-49/hd to €2.26/ kg in the 100-299kg section, it still sees the overall average value at this weight range from €226-675/hd.