The Irish Limousin Cattle Society hosted the second of its spring premiers in Roscrea on bank holiday Monday, which saw an incredibly strong commercial trade for bulls.

The highs of other years wasn’t achieved, with prices peaking at at €6,800 and an average price hit €3,650.

While the 2020 fully online sale isn’t a fair comparison, this average is up €300 on the same sale in 2019 and on par with the 2018 sale.

A true testament to the trade was that over 50% of the bulls on offer made between €3,000 and €4,000, showing buyers came to the sale with a definite price range in mind.

Clearance rate

Clearance rate for bulls also proved one of its strongest in a number of years at 85%. That said, this was for a much smaller catalogue than seen in other years.

In total, 59 males were catalogued, but due to on-farm sales, only 39 were presented for sale, with 33 finding new homes.

Leading the prices at €6,800 was Grangeford Paulo Maldini ET from Garry Morrissey, Bennekerry, Co Carlow.

This October 2019-born bull is a son of the highly successful breeder Wilodge Cerberus.

Dam is Procters Ena, a foundation cow for the Carlow-based herd that is a daughter of the 100,000gns Haltcliffe Vermount.

Boasting four stars on both the terminal and replacement indices, he was knocked down to Welsh breeders Messrs Jones.

Also breaking the €6,000 barrier was Ballinrahin Patsy ET from Michael Malone, Ballickmoyler, Co Laois.

Born in September 2019, this powerful bull was sired by the homebred stock bull Ballinrahin Kent ET, which is a Loosebeare Fantastic son out of an Ampertaine cow.

On the dam's side, the prolific Wilodge Cerberus and Sympa both feature.

With five stars on the terminal index and four on the replacement, Patsy was knocked down at €6,100 to Anthony Ryan.

Next in line

Next in line was Clonbonny Plumtree, which hit the market at €5,900.

Bred and exhibited by Athlone-based Tony Hartnett, this December 2019-born bull boasted five stars on nearly all traits.

Sired by Plumtree Fantastic, he is out of a Gamin-bred dam that goes back to Towthorpe Dubai. This one was the choice of James Quirke.

The same breeder sold his second bull, Clonbonny Rocky, at €4,500.

This January 2020-born bull was again sired by Plumtree Fantastic, this time out of a Marchermore Augustus-bred dam, with Ampertaine Abracadabra also in the lineage.

Auctioneer George Candler knocked this one down to Marcus Neylon.

Another son of Plumtree Fantastic, Castlefleming Red Diesel, secured a price of €4,600.

This one was bred and exhibited by Gerard Wall from Portlaoise and boasted a page of stars.

One of the youngest bulls in the sale, having been born in March 2020, he was the pick of Tony Cleary.

Three at the money

Three bulls hit the €4,400 price tag.

First was the very first bull to sell, Rutland Pablo, from breeder Noel Ruttledge, Ballina, Co Mayo.

This five-star Mullary Intrepid son is out of an Ampertaine Elgin-bred dam and found a new home with Enda Waters.

Next at the money was Ballylin Popeye from the herd of Brian Frawley, Croagh, Co Limerick.

This bull’s pedigree includes Grangeford Jojo, Lowerffrydd Empire and Wood Road Donald.

Born in November 2019, he was secured by Welsh buyer Owain Llyr.

While not in attendance, Llyr continues to be a great asset to the society, purchasing five bulls at the last two premier sales, along with driving on the prices of many more.

Along with securing Popeye at Monday’s sale, the Welshman also secured Sliabh Felim Paddy at €3,900.

This October 2019-born bull, bred by Sean Ryan from Cappamore, Co Limerick, is sired by Elderberry Galahad, with Amperatien Foreman on the dam's side.

Last of the bulls to hit the €4,400 mark was Crohane Roky from Imelda and Pat Vaughan, Thurles, Co Tipperary.

This double five-star son of Ewdenvale Ivor was knocked down to Eoin Ryan.

Females

Female trade proved even stronger than the bulls, with all 15 on offer finding new homes.

This full clearance was matched by an average price of €3,293 and a top price of €6,300.

Securing that top price was new breeder John Browne from Granard, Co Longford, who sold three heifers to average an impressive €4,567.

Top of these and selling for the top price was Cartronfree Priceless ET. This Sympa daughter is out of a Vantastic daughter and found a new home in Northern Ireland.

Browne’s second top-selling heifer, and selling for the second-best female price, was Cartronfree Pearl ET.

This daughter of Ronick Hawk is out of the same dam as the sale topper and found a new home with Patricia Kiernan.