Over 350 lots went under the hammer in Athenry on Thursday.

Bullocks and bulls

Table 1 gives a full break down of bullock prices on the day.

In the bull ring, 400kg to 500kg animals made €1.86/kg on average.

Dairy and dairy-cross lots ranged from €1.30/kg to €1.80/kg. Continentals started at €1.90/kg and topped out at €2.13/kg.

Lots from 500kg to 600kg averaged €1.74/kg. Continentals ranged from €1.90/kg to €2/kg, while dairy-cross cattle ran from €1.40/kg to €1.70/kg.

Heavy cattle over 600kg averaged €1.69/kg, with better-quality animals commanding 20c/kg higher.

Heifers

Table 2 gives a breakdown of heifer and cow prices on the day.

From 400kg to 500kg, the average price in the heifer ring was €1.84/kg, but better-quality animals regularly made €2.10/kg and over.

Moving up the weights, 500kg to 600kg lots averaged €1.72/kg and the better types made roughly 30c/kg more.

Cows

There was over 50 cows sold in the sale.

A small number of dairy cows ranged from €1/kg to €1.20/kg or €650 to €880 per head.

Continental cows started at €1.35/kg and topped out at €1.73/kg for a five-year-old Belgian Blue-cross cow weighing 855kg (€1,475/head).

On average, continental cows ranged from €950 to €1,500 per head.

Athenry Mart

Commission is 1.75% to the seller and €9.25/head to the buyer. Athenry Mart has two weekly cattle sales; bullocks, heifers and dry cows on Tuesdays; and cows, calves and weanlings on Thursdays.

Analysis for this report was generated from the MartBids app. MartBids is a collaboration between the Irish Farmers Journal and livestock marts. The app is available for download on iPhone or Android on the App Store or Google Play. With this app, all of the information that is displayed on the mart board is now available on your smartphone, long before the animal enters the sales ring.