Camera at the Mart: bumper trade at Kanturk's biggest ever fatstock sale

Kanturk Co-operative Mart held its annual Christmas fatstock show and sale on Tuesday and it was the largest fatstock the north Cork mart has held.

Supreme champion title went to a September 2021-born Belgian Blue bullock owned by Molly O’Sullivan from Kiskeam.

Weighing 805kg, the bullock sold for €3,520.

There was keen competition throughout the bullock and heifer classes, which was reflected in strong prices when it came to the sale.

Not far behind at €3,500, Kiskeam-based Denis O’Connor got the reserve champion title for his July 2021-born Charolais-cross heifer.

'Biggest fatstock'

Delighted with the event, mart manager Seamus O’Keeffe said: “This was our biggest fatstock and we’re running one for over 22 years.

“We had 152 cattle from 35 different exhibitors, with a good spread of regular and new exhibitors. It was great to see so many exhibitors from the locality and we had some new faces joining some of our regulars too.

Closing the gap

It’s noticeable in the standard that the gap has closed a bit in terms of prices between the prizewinners and other cattle in the class.

Held after the regular sale, trade there saw prices of around €3/kg paid for forward Angus.

“We had a good mix of online and ringside buyers and factories were very anxious for stock, so prices were up a bit, said Seamus.

“The good Angus and Herefords were up 30c to 40c/kg compared to the last few weeks on top of what were improving prices. Store cattle have gone well; we had good Friesians that were hitting €2/kg.”

Trade for dry cows varied, as €100 to €300 over the €/kg was paid for those with a good bit of flesh, while parlour cows were a little under or over €1/kg depending on condition.

Dry cows

Dry cow numbers have been up a fraction, the Duhallow mart had a high of 190 cows on offer recently, with 100 on offer this week.

Seamus put this down to a combination of derogation and potential fodder issues.

“There have been cattle fed around here since September, that’s over two months of winter feeding gone.

“The summer was wet and second cut was tricky in places. There’s plenty of grass in fields, but it couldn’t be grazed.

“People have been getting reasonably good prices, but I think between derogation, fodder and cashflow issues with interest rates and tax bills from last year, I don’t think there are as many cattle in yards in this area.”