Competitive prices were on offer alongside a full clearance at Kingscourt Mart’s online sale of cattle from TB-restricted herds on Tuesday morning.
One lot of 14 autumn-born Charolais suckler-bred bull weanlings sold for €5.35/kg.
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, mart manager Lisa Keenan said: “€5.35/kg would be a good price for a bull weanling at any sale this week.”
Some 108 calves ranging between 100kg and 200kg were also sold, with Kingscourt the first mart in the country to arrange a sale of this nature.
One lot of 12 Charolais bull calves out of Friesian cows made €890 each, while 18 Charolais heifers went for €850 and 20 Hereford bulls sold at €880.
This is the second such sale held by the Cavan mart, with plans going forward for two weekly online sales from TB-restricted herds.
It allows farmers under TB restrictions to sell TB-negative cattle to controlled finishing units (CFUs) via online auction.
Keenan said that while this option has been available to farmers for some time, the price arranged at private sales was not in line with market value.
“The price was very much off the mark, not in line with where demand was at. You might be getting 50% of the value the way things were, maybe even 60% to 70%.
“This is positive for farmers, they’ve an outlet now. There’s a competitive market for them to sell their cattle,” she explained.
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