While cattle sale numbers at Irish marts were up for the first four months of the year, mart sales in May and June declined.

Summer months traditionally see the numbers of cattle on offer in marts drop off but that fall in numbers has been more significant this year than other years.

The fewer number of cattle in the country coupled with the strong trade earlier in the year likely attributed to this drop off in numbers in the summer months.

Click here to see mart sale figures for the first quarter of 2025.

The table below details the number of cattle sold in Irish marts in May and June of 2024 and 2025:

Mart managers expect the number of cattle on offer in weekly sales to increase from now into the autumn months but with 276,000 fewer cattle in Ireland as of June 1 this year, it remains to be seen what extent this will impact on cattle mart sale numbers into the autumn months.

Over 1 million cattle (1,046,845) were sold at Irish marts in the first six months of this year, which is actually an increase of 57,900 head on the 988,948 cattle sold in the first six months last year.

Cattle prices are currently rising in marts from record highs, with strong beef prices one of the key drivers.

Trade confidence amongst farmers appears to be remaining high despite much industry talk of processors seeking to reduce beef price.

Beef price has lifted 40c/kg in the past five weeks and Irish beef prices are now above the average British prices.

The reduced supply trend of beef cattle across all of the northern hemisphere appears to be the key driver of the significant beef price uplift being witnessed this year.