Nearly 100 cattle were in New Ross Mart last Friday for its annual early dairy sale.
Made up mostly of freshly calved heifers, the buoyant trade witnessed lately for milking stock continued, with heifers selling up to €2,225.
Speaking following the sale, mart manager Richard Kirwan said: “Trade was very good and has been for a number of weeks.
“The good heifers are still making money. We have seen some bit of a relaxing on prices for more middle-of-the-road stock.
“We had a number of buyers from Cavan and Monaghan, with a few lots also heading north. These northern buyers seemed to be looking for stock that had a bit of British Friesian in the breeding.”
Taking the overall championship in the pre-sale show was lot 27 from Walter Creane, Davidstown, Co Wexford.
His two-year-old pedigree Friesian heifer was sired by Pol Butte Mc Beemer and calved on 27 January. This well-grown heifer hit the market at €2,050.
The champion was one of a number of heifers to hit €2,000-plus on the day.
Securing the top price of €2,225 was another from Mr Creane’s five entries.
This freshly calved pedigree two-year-old was sired by Mountfield SSI DCY Mogul.
Performance was a key selling point, with Creane’s pedigree herd having an average yield of 8,800 litres of 4% butter fat and 3.39% protein.
Top of Anthony Sutton’s entries was a February 2019-born heifer calved a week and sold for €2,200.
The €2,000 mark was hit on two occasions. First at the money was Denis Doran with his two-year-old Gortcreen Sebastain daughter.
Matching him was John Flood, with a February 2019-born Ardkyle Mount Everet daughter.
Freshly calved British Friesian heifers generally ranged from €1,400 to €1,600.
Higher-yielding heifers with more Holstein make-up in the lineage ranged from €1,500 to the aforementioned top price of €2,225.
The sale recorded a near-100% clearance rate, with the average price surpassing the €1,550 mark.
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