Numbers were back in Roscrea Mart on Friday, but good cattle still sold well.

Speaking to David White of Central Auctions, the co-operative marts group which runs Birr, Nenagh and Roscrea marts, he said that “prices are really no different than what they were this time last year”.

Lighter heifers ran 20c/kg ahead of light bullocks and heavy heifers ran 15c/kg ahead of heavy bullocks at Friday’s sale.

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White added: “Cattle are weighing well and the good-quality lots are still making good money.”

Store prices are being propped up by good farmer demand around the ring.

However, White has noticed a big drop-off in the number of bull buyers who are instead opting to purchase bullocks and cull cows now.

Bullocks

Bullock prices were more difficult this week. Table 1 gives a full breakdown of prices on the day.

A small number of lighter 350kg to 400kg animals were sold, the majority of which were Angus-cross.

These ranged from €1.55/kg to €2.03/kg for better-conditioned animals.

A handful of continental crosses sold for €2.13/kg on average.

Moving up the weights, there was a much larger entry of 400kg to 500kg bullocks, again largely dominated by dairy-cross stock.

Overall, the average was €2.01/kg.

Angus and Herefords ranged from €1.55/kg to a top price of €2.02/kg for a pen of five nice-quality Angus-crosses averaging 404kg.

Continentals started at €1.97/kg to a top price of €1,190 for a Charolais-cross weighing 495kg (€2.40/kg).

For animals from 500kg to 600kg, the average was €1.94/kg.

Friesians put the floor under the price here at €1.39/kg to €1.91/kg.

Most of the continentals on offer in this weight band were plainer lots and sold for between €2/kg and €2.05/kg.

A few continentals drifted over €2.15/kg.

Heifers

Heifers were a firm trade from the week prior. Table 2 gives a full break down of heifer and cow prices in the sale.

Heifers weighing between 350kg and 400kg averaged €2.10/kg.

Dairy-crosses were €1.84/kg to a top price of €2.03/kg for a pen of four 16-month-old Hereford-crosses weighing 387kg.

Continentals were selling for a minimum of €2/kg up to a top of €2.57/kg.

In the 400kg to 500kg weight band, €1.95/kg to €2.05/kg bought all of the dairy-crosses, while good-quality continentals regularly hit upwards of €2.40/kg and topped out at €2.54/kg for a 400kg Limousin yearling.

Heavy heifers between 500kg and 600kg averaged €1.89/kg.

Quality would consistently make €2.10/kg and above, while many plainer lots settled for closer to €1.70/kg.

Top price paid was €1,140/head, which went to two pens of five Angus heifers. Both pens averaged 570kg at an average age of 21 months.

Cows

The sale also saw a smaller selection of cows, but they were met with good demand and €1.66/kg was the sale average.

A few dairy-cross lots sold for under €1.40/kg, but continentals made a minimum of €1.60/kg to a top price of €1.88/kg.

Top cow price was €1,460, which was given for an 835kg 10-year-old Limousin-cross cow.

Analysis for this report was generated from the MartBids app. MartBids is a collaboration between the Irish Farmers Journal and livestock marts. The app is available for download on iPhone or Android on the App Store or Google Play. With this app, all of the information that is displayed on the mart board is now available on your smartphone, long before the animal enters the sales ring.