Camera at the Mart: springers to €5,800 in Roscommon

Twenty-seven heifers belonging to local man Fred Dolan passed through Roscommon Mart’s ring on Tuesday evening for his 26th annual sale, with keen demand seen from farmers.

Heifers were mainly Limousin-crosses, with some Blue, Charolais, Simmental and Salers heifers also in the mix, with all heifers scanned in-calf to easy calving AI Limousin sires Loyal, Ewdenvale Ivor, Brooklands Marco and Lisna Some Bull.

Many of the heifers were on the point of calving or calving in February, with 13 lots being SCEP-eligible heifers with four or five stars.

Online bidding was also brisk, while a 90% clearance rate was recorded across all of Fred’s lots.

A large proportion of heifers were roan in colour and showing good signs of milk, with heifers edging into U grading status, with power selling the best.

Heifers sold from €3,800 to a high of €5,800 for an ex-show Charolais-cross heifer, with the majority of heifers selling in the €4,100 to €4,500 bracket.

Average price per kilo across all sold lots equalled €6.67/kg, with the top third of heifers in the sale average €7.57/kg.

Weanlings

Earlier in the evening, a sale of bull and heifer weanlings was held, with a mixture of farmers and exporters active, with the latter prominent for top-end bull weanlings in particular.

Weanling bulls were mainly in the 300kg to 400kg bracket and commanded a strong average of €5.50/kg, with the top third of bulls averaging €6.20/kg.

A show of heavier bulls above 400kg also saw a respectable average of €4.98/kg being paid out. Lighter bulls below 300kg averaged €4.90/kg, with quality bulls of this weight averaging €5.67/kg.

Weanling heifers weighing from 200kg to 300kg averaged €5.80kg, while heifers from 300kg to 400kg were more plentiful and averaged €5.37/kg, with the top third averaging €6.13/kg and the bottom third averaging a respectable €4.98/kg.

Castrated weanlings

A small number of castrated weanlings were also on offer on the night, with farmer buyers active for these types.

Bullocks between 350kg and 400kg averaged €5.52/kg. Heavier bullocks between 400kg and 500kg averaged €5.08/kg, with the top third of these averaging €5.62/kg while the bottom third averaged €4.39/kg.