The Midland and Western Livestock Improvement Society should take a bow after a mammoth two weekends of selling some of the best commercial cattle the country has to offer. Huge numbers of people made their way to the Leitrim venue at the weekend, all on the back of the suckler cow.
On Sunday and Monday, the atmosphere was electric in the showgrounds, with difficulty getting parking outside and viewing inside such was the crowd. The biggest highlight of all was the number of young people involved in all aspects of the sale; exhibitors, purchasers and the rest just there out of general interest.
It’s great to see suckler farmers getting rewarded for breeding good quality beef cattle. Of course, the reality is that the huge money being spent on these cattle isn’t being driven by market returns as off-farm jobs and business funds a lot of the high prices.
It deserves a note of caution, in that ordinary farmers shouldn’t get caught up in the frenzy of high prices and should always buy within their means. Paying huge money for breeding stock is a big gamble and while you could win big, you could also lose big and you need to be prepared for that.
Anybody who walked into Carrick-on-Shannon at the weekend would be forgiven for thinking that weanlings making €10,000 is commonplace, but of course it isn’t. There’s also a word of caution for young people paying big money for breeding stock thinking it’s just a matter of paying big to win big, but that isn’t the case.
Breeding show stock is a highly specialised game, and many of the farmers selling cattle on Monday have been breeding for a long time to get to that level. Breeding these high-end cattle takes a huge amount of time and work and isn’t for everybody.
Hats off to all involved at the weekend for putting our best foot forward, showing what the Irish suckler cow is capable of.
The Midland and Western Livestock Improvement Society should take a bow after a mammoth two weekends of selling some of the best commercial cattle the country has to offer. Huge numbers of people made their way to the Leitrim venue at the weekend, all on the back of the suckler cow.
On Sunday and Monday, the atmosphere was electric in the showgrounds, with difficulty getting parking outside and viewing inside such was the crowd. The biggest highlight of all was the number of young people involved in all aspects of the sale; exhibitors, purchasers and the rest just there out of general interest.
It’s great to see suckler farmers getting rewarded for breeding good quality beef cattle. Of course, the reality is that the huge money being spent on these cattle isn’t being driven by market returns as off-farm jobs and business funds a lot of the high prices.
It deserves a note of caution, in that ordinary farmers shouldn’t get caught up in the frenzy of high prices and should always buy within their means. Paying huge money for breeding stock is a big gamble and while you could win big, you could also lose big and you need to be prepared for that.
Anybody who walked into Carrick-on-Shannon at the weekend would be forgiven for thinking that weanlings making €10,000 is commonplace, but of course it isn’t. There’s also a word of caution for young people paying big money for breeding stock thinking it’s just a matter of paying big to win big, but that isn’t the case.
Breeding show stock is a highly specialised game, and many of the farmers selling cattle on Monday have been breeding for a long time to get to that level. Breeding these high-end cattle takes a huge amount of time and work and isn’t for everybody.
Hats off to all involved at the weekend for putting our best foot forward, showing what the Irish suckler cow is capable of.
SHARING OPTIONS