One of the best sales Skibbereen Mart has seen was how one patron described the show and sale in the west Cork mart that took place on Friday last.

A 100% clearance tells its own story, with buyers competing strongly across all categories of stock.

Just over 600 weanlings went through the ring, with a number of exporters driving trade at the upper end.

There was a handful present and they came close to securing half of the weanlings on offer.

Mart manager Keith Mullaney reported average prices of €3.30/kg for bulls and €3.12/kg for heifers and that itself is a good reflection of trade.

Some choice lots of bulls made €4/kg and the champion pushed within sight of making €5/kg.

Exporters were mainly after the top-end continental stock, but they didn't have it all their own way either, with farmers buyers stepping up to the plate too.

Good money

"We had one buyer who took home a lorry load of weanlings that averaged €3.66/kg too," said Keith.

"It's probably one of the biggest sales we've had here in a few years, with over 1,000 cattle present. It's great to see farmers making the money with the good prices that are there at the moment.

"We've never heard of those kind of prices before. Exporters are driving things on and we'll be running another special weanling sale in November."

Good prices aren't the sole preserve of weanlings in the west Cork venue. Mullaney reported that the cow trade is still driving on, with solid factory demand underpinning that.

Prospects of good beef prices are also influencing the forward store trade.

"The bullock trade was on fire," he added. "We saw a number of lots of Angus- and Hereford-crosses make up to €2.80/kg. There was a group of 573 Angus bullocks that sold for €1,640 (€2.86/kg)."