Across the country, it seems the demand for lighter cattle suitable for grass is at an all-time high.

This was very much the case in Thurles this week, with Mid Tipp Mart manager Martin Ryan saying: “There’s certainly an air of confidence after coming back in, particularly for really store-type cattle.”

The marts sale of bullocks on Monday certainly showed this, with the average price for bullocks between 350kg and 400kg rising by nearly 30c/kg. Overall, 59 sold to an average of €2.05/kg.

The strongest in this bunch was a pair of 15-month-old Blonde d’Aquitaine-cross bullocks weighing 360kg which sold for an impressive €2.61/kg.

Overall, the top third of lots forward in this weight division easily found their way past €2.10/kg to see their average boost to €2.30/kg.

It was a similar story for steers between the 400kg and 500kg mark.

While the increase on the week may not have been as much, the average still came out at €2.05/kg.

This was the biggest entry based on weight, with the top third of the 117 sold selling for an average price of €2.35/kg.

While continental breeds dominated these prices, it wasn’t uncommon for the traditional breeds to creep in also. One stand-out lot was a group of five Hereford-cross bullocks born last spring that weighed 408kg and sold for €2.43/kg (€990).

The bottom third of lighter lots also saw a slight increase on the week, selling for around the €1.70/kg mark.

For those heavier-for-age Friesian-cross, up to €1.80/kg was readily available and to a high of €1.87/kg.

As the weight increased, the average price dropped back to below €2/kg.

This was particularly evident in the steers fit for slaughter, which saw average settle at just over €1.80/kg.

Top of the heavier bullocks was a 17-month-old Charolais weighing 505kg and selling for €1,080 or €2.14/kg. The overall clearance rate across the board was very high, with only 6% going home unsold.