I hear that Elphin Mart impressed one of the north’s leading farmers and beef butchers on his first buying trip south last September. Gareth Corrie, Newtownards, bought 169 animals in one sale at Elphin, from an entry of over 1,000 cattle.

Corrie’s top-rated Limousin suckler cow herd is being dispersed next week at Ballymena Mart to make way for expansion of the Corrie family dairy enterprise.

He says that there was strong competition for cattle in Elphin, with good butchers’ heifers from the south costing much the same as Northern Ireland prices after paying for transport.

However, the big gain for him was the time saved. He had been at six sales to gather up 40 suitable heifers in Northern Ireland.

The Corries have five retail butcher shops and supply these with cattle finished on their own farm. They are also expanding boning and cutting facilities for their wholesale meat business, currently butchering 50 cattle per week.

“Everything is costed and the shops are not there to subsidise the cattle,” says Gareth Corrie.

Like many farmers in the north, the Corries are losing some rented land in 2015 and they see the gradual reduction of their Single Farm Payment over the next five years. The dispersal of the award-winning suckler herd includes 80 cows and 23 in-calf heifers, all due to calve from February onwards.

Six of the cows are pedigree and three stock bulls are also on offer. All stock will be eligible for immediate export and must move on sale day.

The sale is on Wednesday 7 January at 7pm, with viewing from 5pm. For details contact 044-7815069344.

The decision to expand the dairy herd was taken a good while ago. New accommodation with 250-cow cubicles and slatted tanks is near completion.