Camera at the Mart: heifer prices skyrocket at Roscrea fatstock

Central Auctions Roscrea held its highly anticipated annual fatstock show and sale of heifers of Friday 5 January.

Despite this event always receiving a large entry, this year’s show and sale exceeded all expectations, which left mart manager Michael Harty with no choice but to split the show and sale of cows, which also met an incredibly large entry of 500 head on Saturday.

Friday’s sale of almost 800 heifers was met with record demand both from the ringside and online, so much so that a 96% clearance of all heifers was achieved.

Good-quality and well-marked and coloured heifers suitable for breeding caught the attention of plenty of buyers who were willing to dig deep for their preferred lots, but, remarkably, an even stronger demand came from factory agents and finishers for beef heifers.

Northern Ireland buyers also had a strong influence on the day’s trading both from the ringside and online.

Manager Michael Harty told the Irish Farmers Journal: “We saw a great solid trade all day. The quality of the cattle was some of the best we’ve ever seen in Roscrea.

“There was a few in-calf heifer operators competing very strongly for heifers suitable to breed all day and factories were also very active for stock.”

Topping the charts

Topping the charts at Friday’s sale was a March 2021-born heifer weighing 860kg that sold for €4,550 (€5.29/kg).

This super price was followed swiftly by another Belgian Blue heifer born in April 2022 and weighing 605kg that sold for €4,420 (€7.31/kg).

Charolais heifers met strong demand, with one March 2021-born heifer falling just shy of a tonne weight selling for €3,860.

Limousin-cross heifers also left their stamp on the trade, with an August 2021-born heifer weighing 640kg selling for €3,600 (€5.63/kg).

Heavy Belgian Blue heifers that weighed in over 600kg generally sold from €3.20/kg to €4.35/kg, while Limousin-cross heifers of the same weight averaged from €2.90/kg up to €4.10/kg for the better-conformed lots and Charolais-cross heifers, which made up the majority of this section, typically averaged €2.90/kg to €3.40/kg.

Heifers weighing from 500kg to 600kg saw Charolais achieve prices ranging from €3.10/kg to €3.40/kg.

Limousin-crosses secured averages from €2.80/kg to €3.30/kg and over 100 Belgian Blue heifers in this section sold from €3.05/kg to highs well north of €3.70/kg.