Special sales of suckler calves are in full swing at livestock marts around the country.

In Ballymena, the first two sales have seen close on 1,300 calves sold.

Bull calves sold to a top price of £1,080 for a 310kg Belgian Blue animal with heifers selling to £1,110 for a 320kg Limousin animal.

Bull calves weighing 350kg to 400kg sold from £920 to £1,030, while calves weighing 300kg to 350kg made £900 to £1,080 for top-quality lots. Plainer cattle are a harder sell and generally making £100 to £200 per head less.

Good-quality heifer calves over 350kg sold from £795 to £1,000 with light calves selling from £650 to £980.

In Armoy, good-quality weanlings were an easy sell, while plainer or light animals were a slower trade.

Charolais cross calves weighing 350kg to 400kg were generally making from £880 to £1,000 with a few exceptional quality animals over 400kg selling from £1,010 to just over £1,300 per head. Calves weighing closer to 300kg were generally selling from £760 to £880.

In Markethill, almost 500 weanlings were sold last Thursday. Prices peaked at £1,720 for the pre-sale champion, a Limousin heifer weighing 280kg.

In Enniskillen, good quality calves were selling upwards of £850 to £1,000 for bulls and heifers, while lighter calves were making £100 per head less.