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A significant drop in numbers through the ring helped to boost the average sale price drastically at the Irish Simmental sale held in Roscommon Mart last Saturday. While many had reported strong interest in private sales, the vigorous pre-sale inspection ran by the society dropped numbers even further, with 29 of the catalogued 59 making it to the sales ring.
Of these 29 bulls on offer, 26 sold to average €3,821, up €621 on the year. More notable is that 20 of the 26 bulls made €3,000 or more. This was heavily driven by the large amount of UK and Northern Irish buyers who secured 10 of the 26 bulls along with a further five heifers.
Topping trade at €8,700 was the pre-sale senior champion Clonagh Go Go Dancer exhibited by Garrett Behan of Ballyfin, Co Laois.
Go Go Dancer is sired by herd stock bull Kilbride Farm Dragoon and the dam is out of three-time national champion Banwy T-Rex. He found a new home with Aberdeenshire-based R and M Hamilton.
Close behind was Seamus and Jennie Aherne’s Towerhill Happy Harry, who was met with a flurry of bids before the hammer finally fell at €8,000. The Curaheen Dickens son was less than 12 months old and claimed third place in the strongest class of the day. Successful purchasers were the Woods family of the well-known Popes herd in Lancashire, England.
No strangers to purchasing Irish bloodlines, Popes Simmentals also purchased Auroch Hillary at the Curaheen sale last September for the Irish record price of €26,000.
Claiming top spot in the junior section under Scottish judge Andrew Sleigh were Nigel and Patrick Hogan with their bull Rathnashan Hunzo (pictured below).
Sired by Auroch Bullet, this March 2016 bull also claimed the national junior bull champion title last summer. He found a new home with Padraig Fagan, Westmeath, at €6,400.
Scooping the reserve junior title was Gerry Lenehan, Easkey, Co Sligo, with his January 2016 bull Rathlee Hulk. Sired by Clonagh Tiger Gallant, he is out of Celtic rock daughter Glebefarm Wanda and had previously secured the 2016 Connacht calf champion. This very stylish young bull was a steal at €2,300, largely down to the current trend of buying based on stars.
Reserve in the senior championship was Dermody Gus (pictured below) from Noel Jagoe, Drinagh, Co Cork. Born September 2015, he combined Kilbride Farm Bantry 10 with Kilbride Farm Newry. He sold at €3,000 to William Harkness, Co Antrim.
Breeders weren’t the only people bidding on Saturday. The National Cattle Breeding Centre was also successful in acquiring what it hopes is the next big bull in the Irish AI scene.
Kickhams Handsome, bred by Michael Keating is that bull. Having placed third in Tullamore and reserve junior calf champion at the southeastern calf finals, he combines style with stars. Sired by Curaheen Wakeman and out of a Marbelhill Liam-bred cow, he was eventually knocked down at €5,200.
The Wall family of Curaheen continued to make the money when they sold the youngest bull catalogued Auroch Highway Man Et for €5,000. Five stars down the line, Highway Man sees Carnkern Titan, Dirnanean Jacob and Hillcrest Champion in the lineage. Michael Byrne, Clogherhead, Co Louth, was the successful bidder.
Paul McArdle, Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, was next in line when he received €4,500 for his December 2015-born Broomfield Gerry.
Sired by Kilbride Farm Delboy, Gerry collected the reserve sash at the national calf show in Strokestown last September. This five-star bull headed west with Galway man Vincent Keane.
Joe and Sean McGarry were the last of the breeders to make €4,000 or more when they sold their first prizewinner Clonguish Hector Et to John Kelly for €4,400. Born February 2016, this Omorga Murray-sired bull is out of Brogeen Victoria, a three-time national title winner herself.
Females
The strong interest shown for females at last year’s premier failed to be replicated, with averages back by over €500 to level at €2,433. Seventeen of the 26 heifers on offer found new homes, five less than last year.
Kilbride farm Dragoon was also behind the top-priced female Suirville Grace. Bred and exhibited by Noel Farrell, Cashel, Co Tipperary, she is out of Clonagh Diamond Eyes, the reserve champion at this sale in 2013. She sold for €3,600 to Leitrim breeder Tommy Connolly.
Hugh and Sarah Murray, Moate, Co Westmeath, sold their first prizewinner Shiloh-farm Heidi for the next top at €3,250. Sired by Kilbride Farm Delboy and out of a homebred Dovefields Gallant-bred dam, she sold to Mayo breeder Domnic Ginty.
The Murrays were also out on top in the pre-sale show where their other female exhibit, Shiloh-Farm Glamorous Lady, (pictured above) clinched top spot.
This April 2015-born heifer was sired by Delfur Decider 12, again from a homebred Dovefields Gallant dam. She was purchased by Newcastle-based JJ and JM Sanders.
Mr Sleigh awarded the reserve championship to Mount Heidi from Joseph Kelly, Co Clare. Sired again by Delfur Decider, she sold for €2,600 to David Donnelly, Ashbourne.
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