Mart Price Tracker

How do you find them against the other dairy breeds for performance

Had some pure bred montys milking her a few years back and they were the most cantankerous cows we ever had. Sold all of them.

I only read this earlier today and i was that pissed off at the comment i'm going to reply 5 days later.

€850-€880 may be "Plenty for them" in your eyes, my view is it is'nt half enough for them, you'd swear they grow on trees and all that has to be done is pick them and land them in a mart for you to buy.

The primary producer should be entitled to the primary profit margin, everyone else up the line is making a living off the poor **** up to his bollocks in shite at 3 in the morning, he does 95% of the work and gets 0% of the profit.

End of rant.

I explained in my second post above why they were only worth that. If you are in suckler's you have to accept you are in competition with dairy beef. The poster that put 500 with there weigh on them was talking about R grade CH and LM.

Even at a 200 euro difference in yearling prices these cattle need to hang 40kg DW heavier than HE&AA cattle to make up that difference.

Suckler bred cattle complete against dairyX beef, the costs related to Suckler cattle means that the margin for a primary producer is virtually non existent.

What would be best for the suckler farmer

Sell as weanlings @ €1000+, kill as U16m bulls or U24/30m as steers /heifers

Sadly lots wouldn’t have the land type to finish off grass

I do a mix of beef farming. I have a predominantly lmx suckler herd. I rear 20 dairy calves and then I would buy in stores from 12 - 20 months. I sell beef cattle to two factories (certain type of cattle seem to do better in different factories) and would also sell some of the suckler bred bullocks at 24 months in the mart & the heifers at about 16 months also in the mart.

I find the following:

My heifers usually sell for breding and are probably the most profitable animals I sell. My suckler bred bullocks, I have the most options with, I can mart them or factory them, depending on where I feel I would do best. There is a good northern trade around here & they seem to have no problem giving giving top money for anything better than an R+ grade bullock in the 650kg - 700kg bracket.

My dairy feed stock can only go 1 road and that is to the factory (Fr, Shx & AAx Kepak, anything else Liffey) if I want the best return, that ties my hands slightly. All good in good year, but if things are poor they are the ones that get the kicking. Plus generally I would buy lads in to pal the lads I reared at less than what cost me to rear them, the only issue with buying in cattle is you also buy in their problems like TB, pneumonia ect plus bad temperament. If you know & manage your costs you know which is leaving the best return. @ November 1st any year my dairy reared calves are costing me around €430 - €450 of direct costs. My suckler cow for the year is costing me around €500, key to keeping this figure down is to be very sharp with your cows, cows need to produce milk so at weaning calves are 350kgs plus, I calf in March & April generally, I don't carry empty cows, if a cow loses a calf she is culled & replaced at the cull price or less. I don't keep a bull & I try to select AI bulls to get the best out of a cow. If I was to increase my herd size my 20% it would be totally on the suckler side as I know I would get a better return on that than if I done the same on the dairy beef side.

My farm is fragmented, but is good dry land, cattle wouldn't be housed until mid -late November are now back out to grass. I aslo know that wouldn't be the situation in other parts of the country.

I was planning on taking a few heavy lada but held off after hearing how many were being sold.

Sometimes find that the special unless you have a right one can be hit and miss.

Tuned in a few times prices seemed to go up and down

Best prices for the 500 kg animals around 12 months

you'd wonder why lads took heifers there last night, they'd be well wrecked givin the hour they were sold at

Castleisland was on late enough too yesterday, anything light for age was back a bit in my eyes

Di

Did you notice any Ch cows there, maybe 650 kg?

only saw the suckler clearance sale and then the heifers,

Friday is the day for cull cows there. Had a few there yesterday myself. If she's a plain ch cow yesterday you were talking 1300-1500, abit of shape with abit of flesh between 1500-1900. Seen 1 cow go to 2500.

Surprisingly great prices for culls at the moment.

Consensus around the North East here, is young stock to factory, and culls to mart.

Not a hope, i’d say the factory wouldn’t have given you two grand for her.

So sold 5 today that we normally wouldnt have with an eye to grass for rest of year.

12 year old LM cow as above. 800kg and made 2320. Our best cow but lost her calf this year so not a year for passengers. Not a lot of feed eaten. Maybe 600kg.

LM heifer, 32 months. Weighted 660 and made 1800. Also lost calf. Less than 200kg feed eaten I would say. Not for the want of trying. She has no interest in ration, nuts, or calf museli. Never really had.

LM bullock. 22 months old. Very stylish. Weighed 540 and made 1530. Great price. He was a big animal and will take a lot of feed to finish.

LMX heifer from a short horn cow. 2yr old. 535. Small but close to finish. Made 1270 and a little disappointed as thought she might push 1400.

Chx heifer from short horn. 22months. 475 kg and made 1190. Not happy with weight but happy enough with price against it.