This is a subscriber-only article
This week marks the first of the major UK autumn bull sales, with Carlisle kicking off on Friday, closely followed by the Stirling bull sales starting on Sunday.
There has always being a tradition of Irish breeders and AI companies purchasing both at these sales and privately over the past number of years, and with the exchange rate better than ever, more purchases may be prompted over the coming weeks.
The UK has always played a vital role in the genetic makeup of the national pedigree herd, with over 17% of all pedigree calves born sired by a UK bull, the highest of any country except Ireland.
However, this drop in sterling could massively affect the Irish pedigree industry over the coming months.
Ireland’s autumn sales have always been a prime venue for purchasing top-quality young stock, and over the past few years have being dominated by buyers throughout the UK.
If we only look back to last year, at the Charolais cracker, 21 of the 82 bulls sold were purchased by non-Irish buyers.
The same is seen across a number of other breeds, with 20 out of 103 Limousin bulls sold to UK buyers at the premier in October, 13 of the 60 Angus bulls at the Elite going north, as well as 12 heifers from 82 sold at the Simmental premier in Roscommon, all finding new homes across the border or across the water.
Top prices
Animals purchased are usually some of the top-priced animals of the sales, with buyers clearly focused on purchasing quality when coming across. If these purchasers aren’t getting the value once received when the conversion rate was more favourable, the question has to be asked if they will be as likely to purchase at all. On the other hand, bulls generally tend to sell for less than that of our comrades selling at the likes of Stirling and Carlisle so hopefully the value should still be seen by buyers.
SHARING OPTIONS: