The Aubrac Irish Cattle Breed Society hosted its annual spring sale on Saturday, May 3, at GVM Tullamore Mart, Co. Offaly with a total of 44 animals offered for sale.

The sale kicked off with the bulls entering the ring first, and the society reported a great demand for Aubrac genetics with a 100% clearance of the bulls and an average price of €3,655.

Taking the top price of the sale was Turloughmore T Bone selling for €5,000. Bred by Kevin O'Brien from Co. Galway, the bull is a full-brother to the well-known artificial Insemination (AI) bull Turloughmore Magnificent.

O'Brien also secured the joint second-highest price of the sale for Lot 8, Turloughmore Teddy Bear ET. Rated 5-stars in the replacement, terminal and dairy beef index, this bull was sired by Madison and sold for €4,300.

The second bull to enter the ring also sold for €4,300 for Co. Galway-based breeder James Donnellan. Sired by Bison, Cloonmore Theo also had plenty of stars and took the joint second-highest bull price of the sale.

Selling at €4,000 was Ballyconneely Utah, also coming from Co. Galway but this time from the herd of John Terence Sweeney.

With a full sheet of stars, this bull was sired by Whitestown Leyland Et.

In the In-calf section, the jewel of the crown was Ashbrook Tessa, bred by Michael Hanlon from Co. Longford.

With a replacement value of €230 and dairy-beef at €172, this classy heifer sold for €3,850.

Hanlon also had Ashbrook Tori sired by AI bull Dauphin in the sale, and this heifer sold for €3,550.

The average sale price for the in-calf females was €2,560.

In the maiden heifer section, the demand was described as "excellent", with some super-quality maiden heifers on offer in the sale, according to the society.

The joint top sale price of €2,550 in this section went firstly to Aubrac breeders Francis and James Butler from Co. Westmeath for De Buitlier Teagan, sired by the French bull Feilix and with a replacement value of €205.

Brian and Rachel Donagher from Co. Laois also secured €2,550 for Donabrach Teddy - sired by Westfield Pluto.

The average price for the maiden heifers in the sale settled at €2,175.

A statement from the cattle breed society said: "Overall, it was a great sale with top-quality stock on offer."

The overall clearance rate was 82%. The society thanked all those who supported and helped the event and wished the buyers the best of luck with their purchases.

Also taking place on the day was the dispersal of the Glenford Aubrac Herd owned by Kelly Stephenson and PJ Mc Grath. The herd was being dispersed as the farm is changing enterprise to dairy farming.

The dispersal included 20 lots and the top price of the dispersal went to Glenford Prima Donna selling for €4,700.

The 2020-born cow was sired by Eros and her dam was the Reserve Champion at Tullamore Show in 2016. She sold scanned in calf to Harmonieux (S2205 carrying a heifer calf) .

Glenford Uriel, an eight-month-old heifer, sold for €4,550.

Sired by Otto657efb, this heifer's dam, Glenford Snowball, also sold in the dispersal for €3,200. Both Uriel and Prima Donna were purchased by Westmeath-based Aubrac breeder Robert Burns.