Ballymote Mart held a special sale of autumn-born bull weanlings on Thursday.

Some 170 bulls went through the ring and mart manager Stephen Hannon described the trade as good for good-quality calves.

“Everybody wants the good ones and there is no issue selling them.” he said.

Trade for top-quality Charolais and Limousin calves was around €2.50-€2.70/kg, which is a good price given that a lot of the calves at the sale were over 400kg. Several calves around 420kg hit €1,100. The plainer calf was a little harder shifted, with some struggling into €2/kg. The general run was €2.20-€2.40/kg or €450-€500 with the weight.

This 400kg January 2020-born Charolais bull sold for €970 (€2.42/kg)

This 445kg October 2019-born Salers bullock sold for €860 (€1.93/kg).

This 425kg October 2019-born Simmental bull weanling sold for €920 (€2.16/kg)

This 350kg September-born Charolais bull calf sold for €870 (€2.48/kg).

This 430kg Limousin bull calf sold for €870 (€2.02/kg).

This 500kg September 2019-born Charolais bull sold for €1,190 (€2.38/kg).

This 490kg October 2019-born Charolais bull weanling sold for €1,170 (€2.38/kg).

This 445kg October-born Limousin bull calf sold for €1,000 (€2.24/kg).

This 430kg October-born Charolais bull calf sold for €1,060 (€2.46/kg).

This 425kg November 2019-born Charolais bull calf sold for €1,080( €2.54/kg).

This 425kg September 2019-born Charolais bull sold for €1,100 (€2.58/kg).

This 360kg August 2019-born Charolais bull sold for €860 (€2.38/kg).

Hannon said: “It’s probably early yet and we are seeing very little activity from exporters. It’s mostly farmer buyers at the moment. Some farmers see value in buying calves early as they can get a lot of cheap weight gain on them at grass before housing.”

Check out the new Martbids Weanling Watch series starting in this week’s Irish Farmers Journal. Over the next 12 weeks we’ll have increased coverage of weanling sales in the paper and online every week.

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