The top price of €18,000 paid for a show-type first calving cow and her calf in Tuam mart, Co Galway on Friday night has created plenty of hype online and across social media channels.

The 2025 winners of the Tullamore Show commercial cow and calf championship were not the only animals to generate headlines, with another five show-type in-calf heifers selling from €9,400 to €12,800. In total almost 70 lots of in-calf heifers averaged €6,400.

A recent sale of top-end and show-quality first-calf heifers and their calves also set the headlines in Carrigallen Mart in Co Leitrim with a top price of €10,000 achieved and over 20 highly conformed suckler outfits averaging around the €6,600 mark.

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Flying trade

While these prices are grabbing the headlines, the trade for more commercial-type in calf heifers and maiden heifers is also flying and trending well ahead of 2024, with many lots running over €1,000 head higher.

The best trade is for heavier/stronger heifers, with a significant differential in price between better-quality and plainer types.

Roscommon Mart has held special in-calf heifer entries for the last three to four weeks alongside their weekly weanling sale, with manager Tony Conry reporting keen demand from farmers buoyed by positive weanling returns.

Tuesday evening’s offering of 44 good-quality mainly Limousin-bred heifers averaged €4,545/head.

In the region of 65% of heifers sold from €4,000 to €5,000, with 10 lots rising above this to a top of €6,000. Some plainer types sold back to €3,700.

It was a similar story in Clare Marts, Ennis, on Tuesday with an entry of 19 strong continental heifers calving at three years old averaging €4,810. Prices ranged in the main from €4,300 to €5,050, with three lots rising to a top of €6,250.

The Irish Salers Cattle Society’s Show and Sale in Gort on Saturday broke all previous top prices and sale averages.

There were 43 in-calf commercial heifers that averaged €4,123/hd, while a ferocious demand for maiden heifers saw 63 lots average €3,792/hd and 30 lots exceed €3,000.

There was also an insatiable demand for maiden heifers at the recent Milford Mart ‘cow maker’ sale.

Manager John Stewart commented that there was big demand from young people for heifers which is great to see, with the general run of prices from €6/kg to €8/kg and as high as €10/kg plus for prizewinning lots.