Widely regarded as one of the best herds of Charolais cattle in Ireland, Goldstar Charolais based in Thurles, Co Tipperary, hosted its annual online production sale through Mid-Tipp Mart and MartEye over the weekend.
This year's sale featured some special lots, including Goldstar Blossom, the overall junior female calf champion from Tullamore and the society's national calf show.
In total, 22 lots went for auction, comprising seven maiden heifers, one in-calf cow, one young bull, pedigree calves with their surrogate mothers and a small selection of embryos.
Getting the sale off to a flying start was the star of the show Goldstar Blossom, which sold for a whopping €13,600.
This six-month-old daughter of Ocean and Goldstar Sephora had plenty of admirers, as the bids came in thick and fast in the closing stages.
Carrying a huge terminal index of €209 and a single copy of the 204X gene, this eye-catching young heifer was purchased by Ciaran McGovern from Co Cavan.
Another Cavan breeder, Kieran Gillick, secured the second-highest-priced heifer Goldstar Amaretto ET at €10,800 for his well-established pedigree herd outside Virginia.
Sired by the ever-impressive French champion Neptune, her dam Goldstar Une Star was a successful show heifer in France and is bred from the popular AI bull Reglisse.
Amaretto has a fine show record of her own, winning interbreed calf champion in Ossory, and went to auction with copies of the F94L and Q204X genes.
Just one animal sold for export and that was Goldstar Avocado ET, finding a new home in Co Fermanagh at €10,000.
Sired by Reglisse and out of the great Goldstar Sephora, she is a full sister to the national Charolais show supreme champion Shacon Adorable ET.
Goldstar Apache
The only bull in the sale Goldstar Apache surpassed his reserve, selling for €7,800. Sired once again by Reglisse, his dam Goldstar Scarlette was overall female calf champion at Charolles in France before joining the Goldstar herd.
Born in March 2025, he carries one copy of the F94L gene and a gigantic five-star carcase weight figure of +45.5kg.
Pedigree calves with their surrogate dams topped out at €7,200, with Goldstar Babybel ET leading the way. Sired once again by Reglisse, this baby embryo calf's mother is out of the French sire Tombapik.
Embryos
It's no surprise the top-priced embryo at €1,600 was a mating between Goldstar Sephora and Reglisse, coming from the same flush as the undefeated show heifer Shacon Adorable ET.
In total, maiden heifers averaged €8,666, calves with their recipient dams averaged €6,550 and embryos averaged €925, with just two lots failing to meet their reserve.
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