Carrigallen Mart held its weekly calf sale on Saturday, January 8, with 111 calves presented for sale at the Co. Leitrim mart.

Demand for dairy-bred calves has been high, with the trend continuing in Co. Leitrim on Saturday.

Carrigallen Mart

After Saturday’s sale, Agriland spoke with Carrigallen Mart manager Helen Kells, who commented on the sale: “We had a very good start to the new year with some great prices achieved by calves at the sale.”

Starting with the continental calves, top price of the day was €690 for a Belgain Blue cross (BBX) heifer calf (pictured below); the remaining BBX heifer calves sold from €270 up to €690.

This BBX heifer sold for €690
Image source: Carrigallen Mart

Moving to the BBX bull calves, which sold from €220 to a top price of €530 – which was paid for the calf pictured below.

This BBX bull sold for €530
Image source: Carrigallen Mart

There was also a good number of Charolais and Limousin bull calves at the sale with Charolais selling to a top price of €340 and Limousin selling for €420.

Hereford and Angus

There was also a good mix of Hereford, Angus and Simmental cross (SIX) calves. With the Hereford and Angus bull calves selling from €160 to a top price of €380.

The Hereford and Angus heifer calves sold from €130 to a top call of €370.

The SIX bull calves sold from €200 to a top price of €310. The top price SIX calf is pictured below.

This SIX bull sold for €310
Image source: Carrigallen Mart

Friesian bulls

Moving to the final section of Carrigallen Mart’s calf sale and the Friesian bulls that were present at the sale.

The Friesian bulls that were present at Saturday’s sale sold from €30 for the plainer type calves to €175 for the stronger type calves.