Breeding heifer sells for €9,150 in big week at Mayo mart

FOLLOWING on from Friday's successful breeding heifer sale, the trend continued at Balla Mart into the next day.

At the breeding sale, a BBX heifer (lot 73) made €9,150 for a farmer from Ballaghaderreen.

Some exceptional Belgian Blue heifers made in excess of €7,000, with a great attendance of customers for the breeding sale from all over Ireland and the North, plus all the online buyers, while in the mart itself, people were out the door at one stage!

There will be another breeding sale next month in response to farmers' enquiries.

Saturday was the special bullock sale at Balla Mart, with over 400 lots of both bullocks and heifers, with cows in ring 3. A lot of farmers held their cattle for this sale in particular.

This must have been the biggest week in the history of Balla Mart due to the three sales - Tuesday's weanling sale, then the breeding sale on Friday and finally the big sale on Saturday to top it off.

There were a lot of factory type cattle on offer on Saturday. Stores would not be as good a quality as last week.

Some farmer buyers commented that most cattle were too strong, but with feedlot buyers eager for stock, there was some great bidding and nearly a full clearance.

All averages remain similar to last week.

One two-year-old red Limousin heifer made €4,900.

Next Saturday will be the end of month Continental sale, with booking on Wednesday on 0818 301 401.