A clearance sale of the dairy herd of Marie Ryan from Carrig, Birr, Co Offaly, took place at 11am in Birr Mart on Saturday.

There were 105 lots on sale from the spring-calving, British Friesian-based herd, with some pure-bred stock on sale.

There were three categories of dairy cows - cows in milk and not in calf, cows in milk and in calf and cows that where in calf but dried off.

This 530kg dried-off cow born 30/01/2018 and scanned seven months in-calf made €1,600.

This 675kg dried-off cow born 05/02/2015 and scanned seven months in-calf made €1,360.

This 530kg purebred cow born 10/02/2016 that is not in-calf sold for €980.

In-calf cows were calving from late January on to AI Friesian and Friesian, Limousin and Hereford stock bulls. All cows where scanned and it is a closed herd.

Cows in milk but not in calf averaged €834, with an average weight of 587kg. The best price went to a 630kg five-year-old cow which made €1,040. The lowest price was €650 for a 590kg 10-year-old cow.

Cows still in milk and scanned in-calf averaged €1,268, with an average weight of 573kg. The top price here was €1,480 for a 550kg third-lactation cow scanned six months in-calf.

Young in-calf cows that were dried off were the best trade. The first- and second-lactation animals averaged €1,526, with an average weight of 538kg. Prices ranged from €1,300 to €1,600.

The cows were in great condition but didn’t have any EBI or milk recording figures available.