Clones Mart holds its weekly sale of cattle on Thursdays and last week had a mix of dry cows, bullocks, heifers, weanlings and suck calves through the ring.

There were just over 100 head of cattle included.

Despite negative messaging from factories over the last two weeks, store cattle continue to be a very good trade, with dry cows also holding up very well.

Top call of the day went to a March 2016-born Limousin stock bull that weighed 995kg and sold for €3,360.

The suck calf trade is continuing to be the highlight of a lot of mart sales at the moment and Clones was no exception to this trade last week.

Three- and four-week-old Hereford and Aberdeen Angus bull and heifer calves ranged in price from €300/head for young calves to over €600/head for older calves.

Runner calves or reared calves also met good demand, with three-month-old reared calves hitting €900.

Weanling heifers also met a good trade, with a nice-quality May 2024-born Limousin-cross-Belgian Blue heifer weighing 320kg being sold for €1,570 (€4.90/kg).

Clones mart manager Sean Cadden said: “It’s a mixture of local farmers and exporters driving the calf trade, with exporters having a very strong hand at the moment.”