This July 2020-born Limousin bull weighed 540kg and sold for €1,190 (€2.20/kg).
Friday last saw Donegal Town Mart host its first livestock sale under the new COVID-19 guidelines where buyers were allowed ringside.
Manus Connolly was ringside to study the trade and get the reactions of buyers, sellers and mart staff.
The mart saw 100 lots go through the ring, with cows, suckler outfits, heifers, bullocks and bulls being some of these lots.
Strong cow trade
Cows saw a strong trade. With a large number of feeding cows in the sale, the demand was for factory-fit cows, with some of these selling for up to €2.30/kg and young feeding cows very close behind.
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This aged Parthenaise bullock was born March 2013, weighed 920kg and sold for €2,040 (€2.22/kg).
Last Friday, the
Irish Farmers Journal was in Tullow Mart for its weekly general cattle sale, which was one of the last fully online sales before bidders returned ringside on Monday.
Speaking after the sale, Tullow manager Eric Driver said: “We had a good lively trade this week. It’s a final farewell to fully online bidding and that brings a bit of nerves.
“There is a good honest trade for beef at the moment and I can’t see trade get much better, but it could fall back.”
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This March 2019-born Belgian Blue heifer was scanned in-calf and due on 13/12/2021 and sold for £7,500.
The Jalex brand is recognised all over the country for show-quality cattle and James Alexander’s recent venture into on-farm sales has proven a big hit with suckler buyers.
Having completed a number of successful open days in the past, 2020 saw the Alexander family hold their first on-farm sale, followed by another very successful on-farm sale last Saturday.
Auctioneer Richard Beattie had a mammoth task, with over 200 in-calf heifers going through the ring.
Bidding was ringside and online, attracting buyers from all over Ireland and further afield.
The sale was conducted ringside and also online using the MartBids app.
The Northern Ireland Charolais club held a successful first outing at Clogher Valley Livestock Producers Mart on Friday night.
The venue has been attracting some very big sales of commercial cattle in recent times and its central location in suckler country means it’s the perfect fit for pedigree sales.
Topping the trade on the night were the Devine brothers from Strabane in Co Tyrone.
Their strong July 2019-born Brownhill Paddyrabbit is by Mullaghbane Topline, a son of Donnally New, and out of a Shaen Topper cow.
After a bidding frenzy from both online and ringside bidders, he was knocked down at £4,500.
The sheep trade remains brisk, with good demand from both factory agents and butchers.
Raphoe Mart had a big entry of hoggets on Monday and prices ranged from €110/head to a top of €282 for a pair of super Texel hoggets weighing 77.5kg each.
This Texel-cross fat ewe weighed 75kg and sold for €196.
Light spring lambs in the 34kg to 38kg weight category sold from €120/head to €140/head.
Heavier lambs in the 38kg to 43kg weight category sold from €140/head to €160/head, while spring lambs weighing from 43kg to 50kg sold from €160/head to €186/head.
These seven hoggets weighed 55kg and sold for €186/head.