Autumn 2020 has started off a real strong one for cattle prices, with weanlings, store cattle and dry cows all up on last year’s prices.
Breeding stock are in demand and it doesn’t matter if they are weanling heifers, breeding heifers, in-calf heifers or cows with calves at foot, there seems to be customers there for them all.
Clogher Mart had a special sale of over 60 heifers on Wednesday night for a local producer. The heifers were all Limousin-, Simmental- and Charolais-bred and all in-calf to Limousin bulls.
The heifers were all purchased in the west of Ireland in 2019 and exported to NI.
Sale topper
The sale-topper was a roan Limousin in-calf heifer that sold for £2,200 (€2,500).
The sale achieved a 100% clearance, with an average price of £1,780 (€2,022)/head.
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Clogher Mart’s Harrison Boyd said “There’s always men for the good one and we had a lot of farmers here looking for one or two heifers.
"Cull cows are a great trade in the mart and factory, so it means farmers don’t have a lot to put along with the price to replace with an in-calf heifer,” he said.
COVID-19 restrictions were in place at the mart, with all buyers practising social distancing and wearing masks on the night.