There was a good turnout at the Castleisland Co-op Mart’s dairy show and sale on Friday last and while stand-out prices were scarce, there was a high clearance rate.

While there are some concerns around the impact that the change in derogation rates will have on prices for dairy stock, that wasn’t evident, as there was a solid average price of €1,090, marginally back on previous dairy sales at the Co Kerry venue.

Demand was strongest for heavier heifers over 500kg and due in the first two months of next year and the majority of these made between €1,200 and €1,520.

A few heifers due from March 2024 onwards snuck into this price range too, but, for the most part, they were making from €1,000 to €1,200.

A share of lighter heifers sold from €800 to €1,000.

There was a small selection of recently-calved cows on offer and these sold from €1,180 to €1,280, with freshly calved heifers making up to €150 over this price range.

Top price

The top price of the sale - €2,040 - was paid for the show champion, a February 2021-born heifer bred by Jerry Casey, Millstreet, Co Cork.

Commenting after the sale, mart manager Nelius McAuliffe said: “There was a 95% clearance, which was better than I thought.

“With derogation and the talk around it, you’d be a small bit concerned that demand mightn’t be there, but they sold well.

“There’s a share of TB in the area too and anyone that lost a few cows was looking to pick a few up to replace them.

“It was mainly farmer buyers and we had one exporter present as well. Anything calving around February were a good trade.”

While milk price has fallen considerably since this time last year, there have been a few signals that it is likely to improve early next year.

Regarding this, he noted that: “Trade for dairy stock started very good in the spring, but then when milk price started to come back, prices for them started to pull back too.

Improvement

“But there’s signs now that milk might improve some bit early in the year, as the latest fixed milk price offered by Kerry looks better than the last one, so hopefully that will fall back on to prices for dairy cattle too.”

There was a small selection of recently-calved cows on offer and these sold from €1,180 to €1,280 with freshly calved heifers making up to €150 over this price range.

In pictures