Excitement is building among pedigree breeders and dairy farmers ahead of the Aubrac Society’s first pedigree sale of the year.
Its annual spring sale takes place on Saturday, April 15, at Tullamore Mart at 1:00p.m under the gavel of auctioneer, Tom Cox.
On offer will be 11 bulls, 32 females including three cows with calves at-foot, in-calf heifers and maiden heifers. All lots have been pre-selected.
Aubrac breed
Interest in the Aubrac breed has been steadily increasing, driven by demands from dairy farmers for an easy-calving beef breed that produces good quality cattle that have a ready market.
The ability of Aubrac bulls to produce finished cattle from the dairy herd that have decent carcass weights and excellent conformation is gaining traction.
This has been confirmed in the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) Dairy Beef Index Breed Percentiles where Aubrac is repeatedly outscoring other beef breeds across all percentiles.
This year’s Aubrac Society sale also takes place within two weeks of last weekend’s online Aubrac sale which saw strong prices including bull prices up to €4,000 and heifers going for up to €3,500.
“There are significant pressures on dairy farmers on a variety of fronts,” Aubrac Society chair, James Donnellan said.
“However, the dairy herd is probably their most important investment where the choice of beef breed to cross on their cows is critical.
“Aubrac is an ideal choice, combining the ‘holy trinity’ of easy calving, good carcass weights and excellent confirmation in finished cattle.”
This year’s sale can also be viewed online, with online bidding available. Further information and catalogues are available from [email protected]
