Carnew Mart in Co. Wicklow hosted its annual fatstock show and sale of bullocks and bulls on Saturday, January 30, with over 1,400 cattle on offer.

Commenting on the trade, Carnew Mart's Eugene Clune told Agriland: "The likes of such a trade for cattle was never seen before.

"The atmosphere was electric with online and ringside bidders driving the trade. The event transpired into a serious trade for beef cattle and the stores were tremendous as well."

Best continental factory-type bullock:

Best two or more continental factory-type bullocks:

Best non-continental factory-type bullocks:

Best two or more store bullocks:

Best continental store bullocks:

Best continental bull weanling:

Mentioning some of the highlights of the sale, Clune said one buyer left the sale with a lorry load of 32 beef bullocks.

"All the bullocks were over 30 months of age and the load averaged €3.28/kg. There was no beast sold at below €2,100 on the load," he said.

Clune also said that confidence in the trade is at "an all-time high" among store and forward cattle buyers.

"We had a 750kg Limousin bullock making €2,560 or €3.41/kg, and four Limousin cattle weighing 486kg making €3.58/kg," he said.

"Now if that's not confidence, I don't know what is."

The event also featured a sale of 350 weanling bulls and, according to Clune, "virtually every bull in the sale sold for over €3/kg".

"€4.58/kg was the top price in the bull ring and a lot of bulls were making €3.50/kg and more," he said.

"One farmer had 26 well-bred continental bulls in the sale and the bulls averaged €1,500 each."

Clune said the bull trade was being driven by local feeders, factory feedlots and exporters. One buyer secured over 60 bulls at the sale.

Concluding, Clune said: "The value of cattle is unbelievable at the moment. There's a huge want for cattle and sales are breaking records in every way."

Carnew Mart will host its annual cow fatstock show and sale this Friday (February 3) at 4:00p.m. The heifer fatstock show and sale will be on Saturday (February 4) at 10:00a.m.