A production sale of the Gurteragh-Drominarigle herd is set to take place at Kanturk Mart on the Saturday of the June bank holiday weekend.

The herd is the property of local breeder Michael O’Keeffe and will see over 45 lots of heifers, cows and embryos on offer.

The Gurteragh prefix will be familiar to most in the Hereford breeding game, given the success of its major dispersal sale six years ago.

That time, all females under 10 years of age were offered for sale, with only older cows kept on farm.

Given the success of the 2015 sale, Michael decided to undertake embryo wok on the older cows so that the bloodlines would not be lost.

A number of successful flushes meant heifer numbers rose faster than expected, so the decision was made to host this year’s production sale.

Offered in the sale will be all 2019-born in-calf heifers, all 2020-born maiden heifers and all autumn-calving cows. A further four lots of three embryos each will make up the remaining lots.

All 12 spring-calving cows will be kept by Michael for further breeding, because if he was to sell all, he would not meet his BDGP requirement for 2021.

Many of the females on offer come from the herd’s most successful breeding lines, which have won at shows and achieved top prices at sales.

Animals are available to view on farm – ahead of the sale on 5 June – with the catalogue and contact details available on the Irish Hereford Breed Society’s website.

Under current restrictions, a number of ringside bidders will be allowed, with online bidding also available through Kanturk Mart.

Kerry Angus sale tops €5,200

The dispersal sale of the Villageview Angus herd took place last week in Castleisland Mart, with strong demand throughout and a few notable prices achieved.

The herd was owned by Jimmy O’Leary from Barraduff, Co Kerry, and the top lot made €5,200.

This was paid for the three-year-old Carrigroe Princess Alice, which sold alongside her August 2020-born Cornamuckla Lord Hardy-sired heifer calf Villageview Teltale.

Also hitting a high note was the four-year-old Carrigroe Naughty Sue, which sold for €4,120.

This young cow again sold with a calf at foot, Villageview Tanner, a five-star August 2020-born bull calf also by Cornamuckla Lord Hardy.

In-calf heifers sold to a top of €1,900, with Mogeely Joe the sire of the top lot.

The small sale witnessed a 100% clearance rate.

Lisduff Angus on-farm bull sale

Well-known Angus breeder and exporter Leo McEnroe will host a bull sale for his Lisduff herd this weekend.

Taking place on-farm outside Virginia, Co Cavan, the sale has 22 red and black Angus bulls on offer.

Hosted through Ballyjamesduff Mart, a small number of ringside bidders will be allowed on the day, with the rest online bidding through MartEye.

All bulls on offer are genotyped and range from 14 to 24 months of age.

The catalogue is available to view on the Lisduff Angus website.