It’s all about quality as prices start to recover

THE rain over the last two weeks has helped ease some of the downward pressure on mart prices, but make no mistake, we’re not out of the woods yet.

While the overall average price of your 300-399kg bullock lifted last week by €30-40/hd to €513-682/hd, the poorer quality Friesian in this section is now down to an average of 96c/kg, which values him from €288-383/ hd.

I’ve heard stories of men with these light Friesians getting only one bid and in some cases no bid.

The other side of the coin is that in general the betterconformation animal moved well last week.

Those few days of rain has seen the country green up and farmers with cattle to buy have begun to make their presence felt once again at ringside. However, their focus is solely on that better conformation animal.

The top end of the market at 300-399kg saw continentals average €8011,065/hd as they rose on average by 24c/kg to €2.67/ kg.

It’s a similar story in the 400-499kg division, where the price of your betterconformation continental bullock at €2.42/kg also rose nicely last week, while the poor Friesian slipped further behind.

Last week you could buy two of those poorer Friesians for the price of your betterconformation continental: €1.21/kg versus €2.42/kg.

The forward store in the 500-599kg section got a small setback on our price table as overall average prices eased 4c/kg or €20-24/hd.

The reason is not clear but the Galway races may have had something to do with it. That’s not as odd as you might think. The festival draws its attendance from all over the country and many of those in the cattle business happen to like horses, and we are all entitled to a break.

And attendees from the drystock sector didn’t have much to lose, because right now they are not making money.

Moving to the heavier 600kg+ bullock, his average price rose by 4c/kg or €24/hd last week.

While more grass in the system helped here as well, the real driver is confidence, or the perception of how the trade is developing, and on that front factory prices steadied last week, which always helps.

There is constant speculation about how many cattle are in the system to be slaughtered in the short to medium term. With factory numbers having run at such high levels for the entire summer, there is a growing belief that a window of opportunity for those with beef to sell must surely open at some stage.

That belief, coupled with more of the green stuff about, is what helped push the mart trade forward last week.

The heifer trade also saw more confidence, with averages holding steady as in the case of the 500599kg animal, while moving modestly upwards by 1c/kg in the 400-499kg division.

The light 350-399kg heifer rose 11c/kg, €38-44/hd on average.

The weanling trade too saw prices improve, with bulls up from 3-9c/kg on average across all weight divisions.

Again it is the better weanling bull and heifer that is pushing the trade.

The other way of looking at it is that buyers just don’t want to entertain poorerconformation stock and are ploughing their money into what they perceive to be a safer bet.

MANY IN THIS BUSINESS LIKE HORSES, AND WE’RE ALL ENTITLED TO A BREAK