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Exactly 100 breeding suckler cows, mostly with calves at foot, were offered for sale at Markethill Mart on Thursday as part of a dispersal sale from the herd of Clive and Joel Richardson, Annaghmore, Co Armagh.
Top price on the night of £4,300 (€4,715) was paid for a 2013-born Belgian Blue cow with an exceptional, one-year-old Shorthorn-bred bull calf at foot.
The cow was scanned back in-calf 18 weeks to a Shorthorn bull.
There were a number of top-conformation quality lots on offer, with a total of seven cows, all with calves at foot, making over £3,000 (€3,297).
Most of the lots came with older calves either close to, or ready for weaning.
Cows with younger calves at foot were not presented for sale on the night.
At the end of the sale, 11 in-calf cows and heifers were also offered, with the top price paid for a Simmental-bred 2014-born animal that made £1,750 (€1,919).
The Richardsons are in the process of converting over to milk production, and hope to start off with around 70 cows milked through a Lely robot this autumn.
More on the sale in next week’s Northern Ireland edition of the Irish Farmers Journal.
In pictures: star ratings a big factor at Gortatlea suckler show and sale
Cattle demonstrations locked and loaded for this year’s Ploughing
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