The Irish Charolais Cattle Society hosted a live bull auction in Tullamore last Saturday, the first since their premier back in March. While not back to normal yet, the precautions in place did bear some resemblance to bull sales that used to be. There was no show but appointment viewing pre sale allowed prospective buyers to identify the bulls that ticked the boxes for them.

Online auctions

While this has been seen in other marts ahead of online auctions, this was slightly different in that around 20 people distanced two metres apart were allowed around the ring. While still not many, the use of this with online bidding helped to boost clearance rate to over 70%, the highest seen at any pedigree sale in the last number of months. Not only was clearance high but the sale boasted a few top-drawer prices to a top of €5,800.

This was paid for the youngest bull forward, Cattanview Powerhouse from Tim Higgins, Cloone, Co Leitrim. This 12-month-old bull was a son of Fiston and out of Doon Hyacinth. Carrying five stars on most traits with a beef cow calving figure of only 5.8%, he now takes up residence in Co Wexford.

Overall 25 bulls sold to average €3,000.

Full report to follow