It’s one of the highlights of the year in Balla Mart’s calendar and Walter Brennan’s 18th annual sale didn’t disappoint, with exceptional quality on offer to the packed ringside and online buyers.

Heifers were mainly Belgian Blue and Limousin-cross, with some pedigree Limousin and Charolais-cross heifers also on offer.

All heifers were scanned in-calf to easy calving Limousin AI sires (some to sexed female semen) such as LM4184, LM9577, LM7416 and EBY, with some heifers also in-calf to Walter’s proven stock bull.

Breeding was available for most heifers, while some four- and five-star-rated heifers were also available on the night.

Auctioneer for the sale was Ray Clarke, who noted the exceptional quality of heifers turned out by Walter and his team.

Top call

Top call was a Belgian Blue-cross heifer born November 2022 and served in March to LM4184 that weighed 770kg and sold for €10,800 (€14.03/kg). It sold after a flurry of bids to a ringside buyer.

Four heifers sold for between €8,000 and €9,000, while eight heifers sold for between €7,000 and €7,999.

A total of 16 heifers sold for between €6,000 and €6,999, with 15 heifers selling for between €5,000 and €5,999.

Just three heifers sold for less than €5,000, with these being mainly later-calving heifers.

A clearance rate of 99% was achieved, with just one heifer going home unsold.

Online buyers dominated the buying, accounting for 27 of the heifers sold on the night, with some online buyers purchasing multiple heifers.

Belgian Blue-cross heifers sold to an average of €9.40/kg, with Limousin-cross heifers averaging €8.44/kg, while a small show of Charolais-cross heifers averaged €8.40/kg.

A total of eight lots sold for €10/kg or greater.

On a per-head basis, heifers averaged €6,791 at an average weight of 733kg, a significant increase from the 2024 average which stood at €3,822, though quality was notably higher this year.