Drumshanbo mart had a big show of cattle on Friday night for its weekly general sale of cattle.

The weather in the northwest hasn’t been very conducive to early grazing, but it hasn’t had any impact on the cattle trade as yet.

The weanling bull trade took a big lift in marts this week and Drumshanbo mart was no exception on Friday night, with a number of exporters working both ringside and online, along with farmer buyers and feedlot purchasers.

There was a good number of Autumn born weanlings in the sale, with some sellers deciding to offload a little earlier compared to other years.

A lot of these calves traded between €3.40-€3.80/kg, with a few exceptional calves crossing the €4/kg. Top call in the 200-300kg weight category went to a September 2023 born Charolais bull weanling weighing 266kg and selling for €1,100 (€4.14/kg).

The general price range for heifer weanlings in the 300-400kg price backet was from €3.60-€3.80 for top end calves, back to €2.60-€2.80 for traditional dairy beef weanlings.

Seven month purchasers who purchase cattle to graze for the seven months retention period in order to lift the ANC payment have been slow to come out this year, with weather likely dampening demand a little in this department.

This May 2023 born Charolais bull weanling weighed 454kg and sold for €1,450 (€3.19/kg)
This August 2023 born bull weanling weighed 342kg and sold for €1,250 (€3.65/kg)
This May 2023 born Charolais bull weanling weighed 492kg and sold for €1,270 (€2.58/kg)
This April 2023 born Charolais bull weanling weighed 382kg and sold for €1,380 (€3.61/kg)
This August 2023 born Limousin bull calf weighed 316kg and sold for €1,270 (€4.02/kg)