Charolais bulls sold for as high as €9,000 at the Irish Charolais Cattle Society's autumn show and sale in Golden Vale Mart, Tullamore, on Saturday. Top-end commercial type bulls were a solid trade, as 24 out of the 34 bulls on offer sold for an average of €5,725.
One herd in particular enjoyed a magnificent day at the midlands mart, arriving with two bulls and going home with €17,600.
Elizabeth O'Leary and family from Co Kerry achieved the two highest prices on the day, selling Droumadesert Alf and Droumadesert AL for €9,000 and €8,600, respectively.
Having claimed the reserve junior championship in the pre-sale show under judge Gerard McShane from Northern Ireland, Alf topped the trade, selling to Douglas McKenzie from Co Tyrone. A son of Lapon out of a Tombapik-bred cow, this 15-month-old bull boasted a dazzling set of indexes, with stars stacked across the board for terminal, replacement and dairy-beef.
His stablemate, Droumadesert AL, is a son of the popular French bull Neptune, going back to a Fleetwood-bred dam. A single carrier of both the F94L and Q204X genes, he also packed an attractive set of figures, sitting in the top 20% of the breed for terminal traits. Taking this bull born in August 2025 back to Co Leitrim was Thomas McKeon.
Roscommon bull
Knocking on the door at €8,200 was the first prize winner, Dorado Axel, brought out by Roscommon breeder Fiona McElhone. Sired by the well-bred French bull Horace JD and out of a Cloverfield Excellent-bred dam, he found a new home in Co Clare with Martin Meehan. Just over 13 months old, he came with a five-star terminal index across all breeds of €162.
Donegal breeder Patsy Lynch was next in line with his senior champion Terryville Ace, which went under Tom Cox's gavel for €8,000. Sired by NCBC's highly reliable AI sire, Lapon, Ace is out of an Invincible-bred dam going back to Bourgogne. Carrying a single copy of the F94L gene and a carcase weight figure of 40.8kg, he found a new postcode in Co Monaghan with Niall McKenna.
Junior Champion went the way of Corriga Adam, exhibited by Leitrim breeder Christy Sweeney, before he realised €7,000 in the sale ring. A son of Lisnagre Laurence and out of a Carrickbrack Hutch-bred dam, this single Q204X carrier ranks in the bottom 40% of the breed across terminal and replacement traits. Laois farmer Michael Dempsey had the final call on this occasion.
Ballym trio
Colm and Louise Quinn of the BallyM herd in Co Offaly had a buoyant day's trading, selling their three bulls for €7,000, €6,800 and €6,000 respectively. All three bulls were sired by the herd's French-bred stock bulls, Ballym Saloup and Ballym Romeo.
