Kanturk Mart hosted its annual Christmas fat stockshow and sale on Tuesday last and there was no shortage of competition in both the show and sale elements.

There were 160 cattle from the Duhallow region of Cork and beyond in what was a record entry.

Champion went to Mervyn Busteed for an April 2023-born Belgian Blue-cross heifer that weighed 780kg. The well-known Bandon-based breeder sold the heifer for €4,850 (€6.22/kg).

Reserve champion stayed closer to home with Denis O’Connor, Castlecor, Mallow, getting €4,250 for his January 2024-born Limousin-cross bullock that weighed 770kg (€5.52/kg).

A share of heavier continental-cross cattle – both forward stores and cows – were exceeding €4.50/kg with a number of exceptional cattle making up to €5.16/kg.

Dry cows

Forward traditional beef breed crosses were generally trading for between €3.70/kg and €4/kg, with an odd few exceeding this range.

Dry cows made up most of the general sale, with the tops of Friesians making up to €2.42/kg.

There were 435 cattle on offer across both the fatstock and the general sale and demand was solid across both rings, with a 99% clearance rate.

Busy

Reflecting on the sale, manager Colette O’Connell said: “We never had as many entries as this year and we planned for it, but still got held up even with everything in the other ring first. We’re delighted with the turnout and people seemed happy, even if some of the prices were back a bit, mainly in the cull cows.

“There was no let-up in numbers and we were busier than usual because we started a monthly weanling show and sale on a Thursday evening.

“They’ve been a great success and we’ve one more to go before the year is out on 11 December.

“We took a chance holding it and it really appealed to part-time, farmers so the weekly throughput is well up because of it.”