Headford Mart’s Charolais show and sale brought both the quality of cattle and eager buyers to the north Galway mart during the week.
Some 288 weanlings were present for sale on the night, with a 93% clearance recorded across all lots.
A small number of bulls below 300kg sold from €4/kg to a high of €6.24/kg, with bulls on the upper end of the weight bracket and quality behind them performing the best on a per-kilo basis.
A strong average of €5.29/kg was recorded, with farmers most active for these types.
Bull weights
The majority of bulls on offer sat in the 300kg to 400kg bracket, with 119 weanlings ticking this criterion, while these types were keenly sought by all farmer finishers and exporters where the quality was high enough.
Some 22% of weanlings in this bracket sold for below €5/kg, with €5.20/kg to €5.50/kg freely available for the majority of calves, while €5.80/kg and above was paid on several occasions for exceptional-quality lots.
The average price per head came to €1,857, with an average price per kilo of €5.27/kg recorded.
Heavy bulls still commanded a high price per kilo where quality was present, with these types crossing €5/kg, while plainer-quality types were back closer to €4.50/kg to €4.60/kg, with bulls weighing up to 500kg present being bought by bull beef finishers.
Across all 182 bulls present, the average weight was clocked at 367.5kg, with an average price per head of €1,875 (€5.10/kg).
Heifers
In the heifers, quality really rang through with prices. Light heifers below 300kg sold from €3.43/kg up to €5.48/kg for top-end lots, again with heifers on the upper end of quality and weight commanding the higher price per kilo.
The majority of heifers weighed between 330kg and 380kg, with these lots varying in price between €4/kg to a high of €6.45/kg paid.
Heifers of this weight sold in the main between €4.40/kg and €4.60/kg, with choice lots only selling above €5/kg.
An average price of €4.67/kg was recorded in this weight band.
Overall average price per head in the heifers came to €1,526/head, with an average weight of 329kg recorded (€4.64/kg).
