A top price of €5,000 was achieved twice at the Irish Aubrac Cattle Society’s elite show and sale held in Tullamore Mart on Saturday.

Two bulls shared the leading price tag, which is a new breed record at an Irish Aubrac society sale.

Trade was on fire, with a 100% clearance rate for the 10 bulls and a 98% clearance achieved for the 40 heifers on offer.

Bulls averaged €3,640, with in-calf heifers averaging out at €2,940. Maiden heifers averaged €2,225, while weanling heifers sold to an average of €1,585.

Just three lots sold for export to Northern Ireland, with the mainstream of customers coming from all over southern Ireland.

Joint top price of €5,000

Turloughmore Sensational ET got the sale off to a flying start, as he was the first bull through the ring and sold for the day’s joint top price of €5,000.

A full brother to Progressive Genetics AI bull Turloughmore Magnificent, this 26-month-old bull displayed a page full of stars, along with below-average calving figures on both beef and dairy.

Sired by the AI bull Despagnou, Sensational was exhibited by Galway-based breeder Kevin O’Brien and will now join Leo Dooley’s pedigree herd in Co Wexford.

Francis Donohoe from Collinstown, Co Westmeath, also received a call of €5,000 for his March 2023-born bull Johnstown Terminator 3530.

Judge Seamus Nagle from Co Clare tapped Terminator forward as his male champion and reserve overall champion in the pre-sale show.

Described by Francis Donohoe as one of the best bulls produced from the herd, he is a son of the French import Nickel and carries two copies of the F94L gene. He was snapped up by a herd in Co Donegal.

Overall champion

In the female section, the overall champion was Ballintra Tania, shown by John Walsh, who had made the long journey from southwest Donegal.

Tania also went on take the overall championship ahead of her male counterparts, before selling for top female price of €4,100.

A daughter of the French imports Marquis and Gabrielle, this February 2023-born heifer is a double carrier of the F94L gene and displayed a five-star replacement index across breed of €157. She went north to a herd in Co Fermanagh.

Ballintra Tania, overall champion which sold for €4,100.

Hot on her heels at €4,000 was Johnstown Sexy, another offering from the herd of Francis Donohoe.

This in-calf heifer is also a daughter of the herd’s imported stock bull Nickel and goes back to a line of Johnstown females.

Born in January 2022, she displayed a replacement index of €171 and carries two copies of the profit gene. She was knocked down to a herd in a Ballynahown, Co Westmeath.

For a full report from the Elite Aubrac show and sale, pick up a copy of this week’s Irish farmers Journal.