Paul Cooke Auctions hosted a clearance sale of silage equipment from a single operator at their premises in Naas on Saturday.

There was lots of interest in what can only be described as spotless equipment. With more than 500 registered bidders, including online and phone bidders, the trade was always going to be brisk.

There were 68 lots entered and a total clearance of the items was achieved in just two and a half hours.

Ninety-three per cent of the machines were destined to stay on the island of Ireland, reversing previous auction trends where exporters were the prominent buyers.

The total value of the pieces sold was €700,000. The top prices were paid for a 2016 Strautmann Giga Vitesse CFS 3601 Trailed Silage wagon, which brought €41,000 plus VAT, and a 2012 New Holland T7.210 which made €39,000 plus VAT.