A boat of heavy bulls was loaded at Greenore Port on Tuesday and is now sailing for Turkey.

The exporter involved, Viastar, continues to purchase heavy bulls and is expected to send another shipment in June.

In addition, all of the major cattle exporters have now begun buying weanling bulls weighing under 300kg in anticipation of this export trade getting under way in coming weeks.

This led to intense competition at some mart sales over the past week, with sellers benefiting from strong bidding.

Exporters are keen to have stock on hand for when the weanling bull trade is opened to private Turkish importers, as is hoped will happen next month.

Exporters continue to make contact with importers and a number of Turkish buyers have visited Ireland in recent weeks.

The latest consignment now sailing will bring the total exported to Turkey so far in 2018 to just under 8,000 head. In total, just over 20,000 Irish cattle were exported to Turkey in 2016 and 30,000 in 2017.

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Exporters start buying weanling bulls for Turkey

Progress on cattle exports to Turkey