Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary held his annual Gigginstown Angus sale of bulls and heifers in Mullingar last Saturday, with a 100% clearance for the second year running.

The now 250-cow herd is managed by Joe O’Mahony and the sale of 24 bulls and 21 heifers achieved an impressive average of €3,320.

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Topping the trade at €5,100 was maiden heifer Gigginstown Enjoy Responsibly. This December 2015-born heifer was sired by one of the many stock bulls on show, Friarstown Lord Big, a former national calf show champion by Rawburn Rommel.

Next best at €4,350 was the four-star Gigginstown Electric Buck R350. Sired by Scottish import Idvies Euxand L505, she is out of Canadian embryo-bred dam Gigginstown House Essence D28. She sold in-calf to three-time all-Ireland champion Rosemead Karona.

Gigginstown Black Caviar R417 was next in the money at €4,200. Again sired by the Scottish-bred Idvies Euxand L505, Black Caviar sees Ebon Hill Extra Gold and D B Ultra 55 in the back breeding.

Two Friarstown Empire daughters, Gigginstown Merlins Magic and Gigginstown Minstrel, were the last to make it to the €4,000 or more bracket. These both sold in-calf to the aforementioned Rosemead Karona.

A further 11 heifers sold between €3,000 and €4,000, helping to boost the average for heifers up to €3,356. This was up from €3,000 in the 2016 sale and €2,350 in 2015.

Bull sale

In the bull ring, a top price of €4,700 was achieved for lot 19, Gigginstown Black Scoundrel. Born in December 2015, this bull carried five stars on both the terminal and replacement indices and again sees Idvies Euxand L505 as the sire.

Two bulls met trade at €4,500. First in was five-star bull Gigginstown Gammer Citation. Rawburn Lord Rocket son Tara Bobbie L902 was the sire behind this one, with the dam a homebred Aughnamona Lord Hedian daughter.

Matching him at the price tag was Gigginstown Gammer Fear R441, which sees Idvies Euxand L505, Tonroe Wally and DMM No Fear 1f in the lineage. He sold with five stars on both terminal and replacement indices with a calving difficulty of 3%.

Next best at €4,200 was Gigginstown Lord Jericho R436. Five stars down the line, he was again sired by Idvies Euxand L505.

This shapey bull was purchased by 15-year-old Charles Shanahan on behalf of the Ashtown stud, who have recently set up a suckler farm to run alongside their equine business.

The fourth lot into the ring, Gigginstown Empire of Dirt, realised a price of €4,000. Sired by the previously mentioned Tara Bobbie L902, he is out of Luddenmore Elba K085 who was purchased at the Luddenmore production sale in 2012 for €6,000.

A further 11 bulls made €3,000 or more, with prices starting at €2,200.

The average price of bulls was €3,286, up from €3,100 in 2016 and €2,400 in 2015.