Kilkenny Mart had another good entry of 1,350 head of stock in last Thursday’s general cattle sale. Demand has been much stronger in recent weeks, helped by the prolonged grazing season and a recovery in winter fodder supplies. Good-quality continental-bred suckler animals received the best lift during the upturn in the trade and these remain the bestsellers, with the trade for plainer quality cattle last Thursday described as slightly easier.

Steers weighing 600kg upwards sold from €1.60/kg to €1.80/kg for top-quality Friesian bullocks with crosses from the dairy herd and plainer quality cattle rising to €2/kg, while good-quality forward types sold from €2.00/kg to €2.15/kg on average, with top prices climbing to €2.35/kg.

Heavy heifers followed suit with prices in a similar pattern as all across the country and lagging 5c/kg to 10c/kg behind steers. Beef heifers ranged in price from €1.80/kg to €2.30/kg while forward store heifers ranged from €1.70/kg to €2.00/kg for the plainer quality types and Angus and Hereford lots with good-quality continental-bred cattle rising to €2.20/kg and a top of €2.40/kg.

Lighter, plainer Friesian and dairy crosses were the hardest sold with prices for Friesian bullocks weighing 350kg to 450kg with poor weight for age starting at €1.20/kg to €1.30/kg and rising to €1.60/kg to €1.80/kg for the best quality lots. Angus and Hereford cattle were also in a similar price range on average of €1.60/kg to €1.90/kg with some top-quality lots exceeding this range.

See next week’s paper for an analysis of prices through Martbids, of which Kilkenny Mart is a participant.