What to buy March 2022, summer grazing

I see in the UK the price of ewes with lambs at foot is after rocketing. Nobody wants to lamb ewes anymore thus the beef farmers there have taken the view ewe families are a safe bet for their money this year.

Go into the nearest furniture store.....buy an armchair and sit on your arse....because there is f*ck all value out there to be got

Seen some value in cattle around 250kg, seen some jaw dropping prices as well.

You'd be a long time filling the truck with value.

I'd a major cull of the suckler cows planned this year all set to cut back and head more to summer grazing.

But from looking at marts there is some value to buy a cow with a calf at foot, if your place is fenced to hold them.

at least your getting 2 animals for the price of an equivalent store and yes I know a bit more work in em but might be an option, and avoid the temptation of bulling them, just kill the cow later in the year.

Older suckler pair do look like something that would leave a few euro, see pleanty of aged cows with a calf at foot making around €1,200 but you would wonder why a lad would be selling them, some of them could be a dodge and you would definitely be increasing your risk of getting TB which wouldn't suit a summer grazer.

Some prices from Carnaross for suckler cows tonight. Now these cows have a bit of age and would be O grade, but they would definitely make more as culls at similar weights.

You should have good power at that sorta money.

I never like including a dealer in the supply chain as I don't see what value they add and consider them very expensive haulage.

Do you hope to kill off grass or are they for the mart again next autumn?

I watched a bit of Ennis bull sale at lunchtime an seen two bulls going threw 1 was a red fella with nice white patch on forehead April 21..410 kgs €1410 and nice white ch same age 360kgs..€1200...serious trade at the minute and them 2 lads are a long way of factory or selling again at mart in the fall....can't see much out of them

Online bidding was the great equaliser. It has taken control around the ring away from dealers. Before if you appeared inside a mart and stated bidding they would counter bid the animal to an uneconomical price unless you stopped bidding. You would have to go to the mart 2-3 times before you could buy.

There problem now is lads tip away on line. As you can buy anytime you like you can stop bidding sooner know it's only 30-40 minutes on the screen rather than driving an hour to and from the mart, needing to arrive when what you wanted started to come in ( often being there 30-60 minutes early) so as to buy your animals.

Now you can sit at home and dip in and out of the auction. There other problem is more lads buy themselves so they have less opportunity to off-load expensive stock that they got caught with. Neither can they buy cheap stock.in one mart carry them 60-70 miles a offload them for a margin that will make it worth while.