Carrigallen Mart held its weekly calf sale on Saturday, April 23, where almost 400 calves were on offer at the Co. Leitrim mart.
Like many other marts at the moment, the number of dairy-sired calves was greatly reduced, with beef-sired calves dominating Saturday’s sale.
Carrigallen Mart
Speaking to Agriland after the sale was Helen Kells, Carrigallen Mart manger, who stated: “There was an improvement in the trade on previous few weeks, with farmers and exporters actively buying calves.
“The number of dairy-sired calves is decreasing, with the majority of the sale consisting of beef-sired calves.”
Hereford and Angus
Starting with the Friesian bull calves on offer at the mart, these sold from €40 to €160.
There was a good showing of Hereford and Angus-cross calves at Saturday’s sale.
The Hereford heifer calves reached a top call of €320, and sold down to €60. The bulls made from €100 up to €340.
The Angus bulls made from €330 down to €60, while the heifers sold from €60 to a top call of €210.
There was also a number of Shorthorn bull calves present and they sold from €90 to €200.
Continental calves
Moving to the continental calves, the top price of the sale was achieved by a Charolais-cross heifer.
Charolais-cross heifer calves sold from €160 to the top price of the day of €760, with the bulls selling from €370 to €690.
The Limousin-cross calves sold from €150 to €580 for the bulls, and €600 for the heifer calves.
Belgian Blue calves on offer sold from €75, up to a top call of €300 for the heifers and €450 for the bulls.
Saturday’s sale also saw a small number of Aubrac and Simmental-cross calves, with the Aubracs achieving a top call of €450.
Three of the Simmental calves achieved €660 and above, with prices of €660, €670 and €680.