Mr. Wm. Rossasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what have been the prices paid for suckling calves of comparable age and sex in each of the last five years—including 1978—in the autumn sales in Northern Ireland; and what has been the average for each of those years.
§ Mr. Concannon,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 13th November 1978] gave the following reply:
Separate statistics for steers and heifers are available only for 1978. It is not possible to break down the prices of suckled calves by age but the age range is limited to about 5 to 10 months. The information available is as follows:
Average price during October/November Average price during year 1974 32.37 32.80 1975 73.60 72.17 1976 172.55 164.23 1977 164.17 165.54 1978 Steers and Heifers 211.29* 203.70† Steers 230.04* 222.23† Heifers 182.33* 176.16† * October only. † January/October only.