The Irish Charolais Cattle Society is set to host its annual Christmas Cracker show and sale of bulls tomorrow (Saturday, December 3) at Elphin Mart in Co. Roscommon.
The show will get underway at 10:00a.m and the sale will get underway at 12:45a.m.
A total of 98 Charolais bulls have been catalogued for the sale, all of which are export-tested and eligible for movement to Northern Ireland on the day of the sale.
For this years’ Christmas Cracker, the Irish Charolais Cattle Society has said it will give €300 back to the buyers of the first 30 bulls to sell for over €4,500 in the ring on the day.
Free transport can be arranged to the UK following the quarantine period after the sale, and €100 will be paid towards transport costs to Northern Ireland, or transport can be arranged.
All the bulls in the sale are fertility tested and the bulls sold within the Republic of Ireland are fertility insured. All bulls are genotyped, sire verified and myostatin tested too.
A vet inspection and pre-inspection by the society has been carried out on all the bulls to go through the sales ring. Of the over-170 entries to the sale, only just under 100 bulls have qualified for the sales standards.
A deferred payment scheme option is in place where farmers only pay one third of the price of the bull on the day of sale.
Last year’s event
Last year’s Christmas Cracker Bull Sale had an average sale price of €4,994, which, according to the society, “is believed to be the highest-ever average price achieved at a society bull sale in Ireland”.
A clearance rate of 77% highlighted the “phenomenal demand” for Charolais bulls on the day, according to the society.
Buyers at the sale were selecting bulls on quality and breeding, as well as indexes.
Old favourites were certainly to the fore, with CF 52 and Domino featuring heavily in the high prices.
Highlight’s from last years’ sale included:
- Top price of €19,000;
- 66 bulls sold to an average of €4,994;
- 23 bulls sold for €5,000 or above.
The top-priced bull at the Christmas Cracker sale was the Junior Champion Garra Rockey ET who sold for €19,000.
The bull was owned by the new breeder David Watts and his family, who were awarded the overall junior championship with their 14-month-old bull Garra Rockey ET.
Rockey is a son of Maerdy Sinndar and the French-bred cow Kilcumreragh Dorothee.
He is a full brother to the Bova artificial insemination (AI) sire, Sagesse Pierre, who was the overall male champion at the 2019 National Charolais Show in Tullamore.