Big demand for strong Charolais bullocks at Mayo mart
STRONG Charolais bullocks weighing 700kg plus were making over €3,000 at Balla Mart on Saturday, with great demand from feedlot and northern factory buyers.
It was a big sale, with over 1,020 cattle sold, and there could have been a lot more booked, but the mart stopped at that figure, with rings on the go until 7 p.m.
Bullocks 300kg to 400kg averaged €4.06/kg - the same as last week, bullocks 400kg to 500kg averaged €4.14/kg, and those 500kg plus averaged €3.93/kg
Top prices in the bullocks included:
370kg CHX €1,900 (€5.14/kg)
440kg CHX €2,440 (€5.55/kg)
690kg LM €2,850 (€4.14/kg)
735kg CHX €3,050 (€3.94/kg)
780kg CHX €3,240 (€4.15/kg)
800kg CHX €3,300 (€4.13/kg)
There was a lot of great heavy heifers this week, met with a great trade, with some making over €3,000 - the majority going to northern buyers.
The quality of some of the lighter heifers has slipped but there was a good clearance.
Heifers 300kg to 400kg averaged €3.98/kg - up by 6 cent/kg on last week; heifers 400kg to 500kg averaged €3.90/kg, and those 500kg plus averaged €3.98/kg.
Top prices in the heifers included:
290kg LMX €1,300 (€4.48/kg)
395kg LMX €1,940 (€4.91/kg)
480kg BBX €3,220 (€6.71/kg)
555kg BBX €3,020 (€5.44/kg)
645kg BBX €3,240 (€5.02/kg)
There were 158 cows, with trade much the same as last week. One December 2021 born Belgian Blue cow with its Limousin bull calf at foot made €6,000 for a farmer from Ballycastle. And a farmer from Bonniconlon had a May ’24 born cow due January 15 that made €4,950.
WEANLING SALE
Last Tuesday saw a fairly big weanling sale at Balla, with over 450 bulls and prices well up.
There were some super calves and some happy farmers who got over €2,000 for bulls weighing around 300kg.
One seven-month-old Limousin bull weighing 315kg, sold by a farmer from Irishtown, made €2,700 (€8.57/kg.)
There was some 43 well fed bulls 400kg plus but calves 100kg less were making as much. These lighter cattle suited a lot of buyers who are looking for natural calves that have not been pushed too much.
Exporter bulls in the region of 350kg were up by around 10 cent/kg on the last sale.
Bulls 200kg to 350kg averaged €5.58/kg - up 21 cent/kg; bulls 350kg to 450kg averaged €5.07/kg - up 8 cent/kg; and heavier bulls 450kg plus averaged €4.26/kg.
There was a lot of farmers to buy the heifer calves and prices were well up. Heifers under 200kg averaged €4.79/kg; heifers 200kg to 350kg averaged €5.19/kg - up by 25cent/kg; and heifers 350kg to 450kg averaged €5.07/kg.