Baltinglass Mart held a special suckler sale at its weekly cattle sale on Wednesday of this week.

Over 50 sucklers were sold as part of the sale for two local farmers.

Confidence is riding high in sucklers at the moment with a good weanling trade spurring on the bids around the ring.

Much of this bidding has been directed towards specialist in calf heifer sales but a few suckler dispersal sales have seen some very good money being paid, especially for top-quality cows.

This February 2019-born Limousin bullock weighed 540kg and sold for €970 (€1.80/kg).

More dispersal sales are likely to be seen after the BDGP deadline of 31 October passes. Farmers who were holding on to cows will be able to sell them after this date.

Mart managers are reporting that the poorer quality cows are a little easier with everybody trying to aim high when purchasing replacement stock.

This April 2019-born Limousin bullock weighed 505kg and sold for €1.140 (€2.26/kg).

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, mart manager Tom Coleman said the special sale of sucklers attracted a lot of extra customers.

“There was a huge difference in the top-end type and the average older types. Our best price was €1,600 for a 2017-born Charolais x cow scanned in-calf five months. Good quality younger cows were a particularly good trade.”

This February 2019-born Limousin bullock weighed 585kg and sold for €1,180 (€2.02/kg).

There was also a good entry of quality store bullocks at Wednesday’s sale.

Quality was also important in this category with the good quality suckler type bullocks hitting as high as €2.70/kg while the plainer Hereford and Aberdeen Angus bullocks were back closer to €2/kg.

This March 2019-born Belgium Blue bullock weighed 595kg and sold for €1,240 (€2.06/kg).

“Last Saturday’s sale was one of the best we have seen this year with serious demand for store lambs. The highlight of the sale was a pen of lambs weighing 34kg and selling for €114,” Tom said.

Baltinglass Mart has a large entry of quality continental bullocks for next Wednesday’s sale including a suckler herd dispersal for a local farmer.

This March 2019-born Hereford-cross cow was sold scanned in-calf four months to the Charolais bull selling for €1,300.

Best trade

Heifer weanlings met the best trade of the day with a few good quality Charolais suckler bred heifers hitting over €2.50/kg.

Dairy types were a little harder sold with plainer lighter heifers back in the €1.70-€1.80/kg region.

Heavier store heifers in the 400kg to 500kg bracket also met a good trade with as high as €2.30/kg being paid for good quality heifers. Heavier plainer heifers were back around the €2/kg.

Other lots

This 2010-born Hereford x cow was sold scanned in-calf five months to the Charolais bull selling for €1,040.

This October 2002-born Charolais x cow was scanned in calf five months selling for €880.

This February 2013-born Charolais cow sold scanned in-calf to the Charolais bull sold for €1,450.

This September 2014-born Charolais cow was scanned five months in-calf to the Charoalis bull selling for €1,300.

This May 2010 Hereford x dry cow weighed 575kg and sold for €720 (€1.25/kg).

This April 2019-born Charolais heifer weighed 570kg and sold for €1,080 (€1.89/kg).