Baltinglass Mart held a special fatstock show and sale last Wednesday.

The sale attracted a big entry, with a number of factory agents active for factory fit cattle both ringside and online.

Agents have been very active in marts all across the country in the last week sourcing cattle.

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This January 2020-born heifer weighed 490kg and sold for €1050 (€2.15/kg).

They have also been paying in excess for what some of these cattle would be worth to an ordinary farmer to kill.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Baltinglass Mart’s Joe Kinsella said: “We were delighted with the day’s trading and we had an almost 100% clearance, meaning farmers were happy.”

This March 2020-born Limousin heifer, weighed 605kg and sold for €1540 (€2.55/kg)

Cattle over 30 months were probably the best trade of all, with bullocks and heifers around the 800kg mark hitting over €2,000/head on a number of occasions.

Store Hereford and Aberdeen Angus bullocks and heifers were also a real solid trade, with bullocks around 600kg hitting €1,400.

This July 2020-born Limousin heifer weighed 465kg and sold for €1080 (€2.32/kg)

Weanlings were also in demand, with a few exceptional prices for seven- to 10-month-old Limousin weanlings hitting over €3/kg.

This Hereford heifer born in November-2019 weighed 650kg and sold for €1380 (€2.12/kg)

Baltinglass Mart is organising a resumption to its calf sales from next Saturday 19 February. Joe said: “We had a few enquiries from local farmers who wanted to sell calves, so we decided to open up our calf ring again. It kicks off at 12pm on the Saturday.”

This May 2019-born Charolais heifer weighed 900kg sold for €1700 (€1.89/kg)