There was a total of 500 cattle on offer in Kilkenny Mart at its general sale on Thursday.

According to auctioneer George Candler, it was a smaller sale of cattle and it also saw less customers around the ring, a likely result of poor factory quotes for beef “quelling buyers’ enthusiasm”.

A reduction in quality in the bullock ring saw a drop in prices, but the demand was still there for the better types.

The heifer ring showed a little bit more positivity thanks to some better-quality lots and most ranged from €2/kg to €2.40/kg, with a top call of €2.90/kg on the day.

The cull cow trade has been exceptionally strong over the last few weeks right across the country and Candler reported a similar situation in Kilkenny on Thursday.

Bullocks

For those from 350kg to 400kg, just over €2/kg was the sale average.

Within this, better-quality lots made closer to €2.30/kg, while plainer dairy-cross stock made down to €1.66/kg.

It was a similar price range for bullocks in the 400kg to 500kg category, with over €2.25/kg being paid for nice-quality continentals, while plainer lots averaged out at €1.66/kg.

Again, those from 500kg to 600kg were not far off their lighter counterparts.

The average price was €1.89/kg, with the good conformation animal up on €2.30/kg and the dairy lots back down closer to €1.60/kg.

Heavy bullocks over 600kg were running 10c to 15c/kg behind aforementioned weight bands.

Auctioneer George Candler at Kilkenny mart.

Heifers

Lighter heifers were a good trade. The sale average for 350kg heifers was €2.18/kg, with the average price for high-quality lots being €2.48/kg. The bottom third on quality averaged €1.72/kg.

Those from 400kg to 500kg were about 10c/kg behind, while €2.40 was the going rate for continentals and €1.60/kg was enough to secure a lot of the plainer types.

Heavy 500kg to 600kg heifers were a further 20c to 25c/kg back at an average of €1.82/kg, with €2.20/kg being the going rate for R grading heifers or higher.

Cull cows

Top prices for cows on the day included some at over the €2/kg mark. Young, well-fleshed continentals were demanding these high prices.

Looking at the averages, €1.98/kg was the average price for the best-quality dry cows.

A modest €1.60/kg was still the average for dairy lots and some poorer continentals.

Kilkenny Mart

Commission in the mart is €12 to €15 to the seller and €10 to the buyer.

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.