Camera at the Mart: top of €7,200 for heifers in Elphin

Elphin Mart had over 350 heifers in its special autumn show and sale of heifers that took place last Wednesday.

There was a real steady trade throughout the day, with the clearance rate coming in at over 95% for the sale.

Sixty heifers in the sale made over €4/kg, with breeding heifers in big demand from farmers and in-calf heifer producers.

Very few cattle were sold under €3/kg, with close to 50 heifers making €3,000 or more in the sale.

Stand-out prices

Some of the stand-out prices included €7,200 for a May 2021-born Belgian Blue-cross heifer weighing 810kg.

She was purchased by well-known in-calf heifer producer Gareth Corrie, who also judged the heifers in the pre-sale show that morning.

An April 2021-born Limousin heifer also hit €5,050. She weighed 630kg.

The general run of good, straight Charolais and Limousin heifers in the 400kg to 500kg weight bracket were selling for €3.00/kg to €3.50/kg.

Lesser-type heifers were back at €2.60/kg to €2.80/kg, but there were very few lesser types in the sale.

Good trade

Auctioneers Marty Brady and Gerry Campbell rattled through the 300 heifers in no time, with the good trade helping the speed of the sale.

There was also good Northern Ireland (NI) activity with 100 heifers being exported to NI from the sale.

Northern Irleand buyer activity has increased in a lot of marts in the south over the last 10 days with big competition for stock

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, interim Elphin Mart manager Ciaran Lynch said: “It’s a privilege to take on the job of managing Elphin Mart.

“It’s right up there with the top marts in Ireland in terms of quality stock and I’m really looking forward to getting into it.

“Despite all the negative talk about the suckler herd, our last two sales of heifers have seen unbelievable quality being sold. Suckling is a tough game and it’s great to see the farmers that are producing the top animals getting rewarded for their efforts.”

Elphin Mart holds its general cattle sale and weanling sales on Monday evenings, with special bullock and heifer sales taking place on Wednesdays throughout the autumn period.

A special sale of 400 bullocks will take place on Wednesday 13 September.