Trade across all categories at Kilkenny Mart's general cattle sale on Thursday can only be described as on fire.

First through the weigh bridge was the cows, which saw prices rise up to €1,900.

Young cows with sufficient fat cover started at €2.10/kg and sold up to €2.38/kg.

Such was the demand for the good-quality lots on offer, the top third of lots sold averaged over €2/kg.

Younger well-fed dairy stock also held their own, selling up to €1.90/kg. This helped to boost overall cow average to €1.73/kg, up 9c on the week.

Snapped up

Buyers remain eager on the ground for stock suitable for direct slaughter or for a short period of feeding.

Most of these lots are being snapped up by factory agents or specialised agents who know of the tight supplies on hand for the next months.

This eagerness is driving fed cattle prices up another level, with prices up 5c/kg in the heifers and nearly 10c/kg on the bullocks. This difference is substantially more for the better-quality lots.

Continental cattle

Most noticeable was the demand for top-quality heavy continental cattle, which saw average price rest at a massive €2.75/kg.

This was led by a batch of four Limousin bullocks weighing 635kg that sold for €2.88/kg or €1,830/head.

Fat heifers sold to €2.60, but these were much lighter on the ground compared with steers.

Short-keep lots of heifers pushing up to 600kg in weight were seen passing the €2.60/kg mark on the odd occasion, selling to a top of €2.64/kg.

Bullocks again pushed that bit further than the heifers in the short-keep weight sub-600kg.

One set of Limousin bullocks weighing 585kg topped out at €2.89/kg.

Dairy bullocks hitting the fat score and heavy weights were also in very high demand, selling over €2/kg to a top of €2.13/kg.