Camera at the Mart: suckler pairings sell to €4,650 in Ballinasloe

Some 177 lots passed through the ring in Ballinasloe Mart on Saturday last, with a 90% clearance recorded among the 42 suckler cows, six pens of weanling bulls and 14 pens of weanling heifers that were on offer.

Firm demand was seen across all stock types in general, but weanling bulls and quality in-calf cows and heifers or those with a calf at foot commanded solid prices.

Cows with calves at foot sold from €2,000/pair up to a high of €4,650 paid for a 2022-born Limousin cow with a three-week-old Limousin calf at foot.

Springing heifers

Springing heifers and cows sold in the main from €2,400/head up to a high of €3,800/head for a nice-quality first-calving Limousin-cross heifer, with some older of poorer-quality cows selling closer to the €2,200/head mark or slightly below.

Weanling bulls were plentiful in number, with good bite from buyers for nicer-quality stock.

Top-end bulls generally weighing in the 300kg to 400kg category saw prices from €5.26/kg to a high of €5.83/kg being paid by buyers.

At the opposite end, lesser-type suckler bulls or those from dairy origin sold in the main from €4.50/kg to €4.70/kg, with prices above and below this.

Top price per kilo in the bulls was an 11-month-old Limousin-cross weighing 350kg that sold for €2,120 (€6.06/kg).

Sharp trade

Farmer buyers dominated the purchase of heifer weanlings, with U and R grading types most in demand.

Weanling heifers were an arguably sharper trade, with top-end heifer weanlings selling in the main from €5.30/kg to €5.90/kg, with two lots of heifers breaking €6/kg.

Less demand was seen for heavier, plainer-type heifers above or close to the 400kg mark, some of these selling below €4.20/kg, though the majority of average-quality heifers still sold between €4.80/kg to €5.20/kg.

Top price per kilo among the heifers was a pair of June- and July-born Charolais-crosses weighing 212kg that sold for €1,320/head (€6.23/kg).