Mart buyers cut their ‘damp’ cloth
THE mart trade for bullocks and heifers has remained so far this spring curiously balanced.
One week’s gains are offset by pessimism as the weather fails yet again to improve. Then there is a small upward lift over the next seven days as buyers edge forward in the expectation that the weather and ground conditions must surely improve.
Yes it’s all about the weather again, as last week also failed to deliver any sustained let up from damp and wet conditions and mart buyers cut their cloth accordingly.
God bless her but Evelyn Cusack of Met Eireann would probably top a poll of the most influential women in Ireland on the simple basis that whether you’re planning a weekend break or buying a few bullocks to go to grass. It just takes one short sentence from her to scupper plans this spring — “Rain will spread across the country, becoming heavy, widespread and persistent.”
It’s not Evelyn’s fault, we all know that, but I do want to be watching when she finally announces to the bedraggled Irish nation: “Tomorrow, and the following few days will see prolonged sunny spells”.
The reality is that the pronouncements from Met Eireann do actually affect the trade at marts up and down the country.
This spring, if you can call it that, we have seen summer grazers weigh up market potential on the basis that continuing poor weather limits the immediate prospects for the longer keep animal and that until such time as the weather does actually improve they are not prepared to risk their money.
In the mean time, the for- ward store or shorter keep animal has been the animal of choice for those with money to invest.
Last week saw the 500-599kg bullock advance by 7c/kg or from €35-42/hd, recovering the majority of the 5c/kg loss it had incurred the previous week, which in affect means that over two weeks this category has remained fairly stable on average.
Stable
And that’s the situation on the bullock table this week; prices are basically stable across the whole bullock spectrum.
The 300-399kg bullock is up 1c/kg on average, while the 400-499kg bullock is also up just 1c/kg.
The 500-599kg animal, the animal of choice for many, is up just 2c/kg over two weeks, while the 600kg+ bullock stays firmly fixed for the second week at an overall average of €2.10/kg.
The heifer table, while appearing to show some reasonable positive movement, overall averages in the 350-399kg section were up 8c/kg or from €28-32/hd.
However the reality is that over two weeks prices for heifers are only marginally improved. That 8c/kg increase in the 350-399kg section follows on from a fall off 5c/kg two weeks ago.
It’s a similar story for the forward or heavy heifer when you average out their prices over the last two weeks, they’re up but only by 1-2c/kg.
There is one exception however, the 400-499kg heifer bounced by 7c/kg or from €2835/hd last week after staying static the previous week.
That at least is one positive sign. PHOTO: RAY RYAN