There was a large offering of cattle at Carnaross Marts’ weekly sale of bullocks on Monday (August 29).
The sale featured a total of 850 bullocks ranging in weight from 350kg to 995kg, the latter being the weight of the heaviest bullock in the sale.
Mart manager Padraig McElroy described the trade on the day as “very strong”, and said that the sale ran for over 11 hours.
“The later it got, the dearer it got. There were more and more new buyers coming online as the night went on,” he said.
“There was a 650kg continental bullock that came into the ring just after 10:00p.m and it raced into €2,100 or €3.23/kg.
“The 995kg bullock was shown by a Co. Cavan farmer and sold for €2,990 or €3.02/kg.”
Sample prices from Carnaross Mart:
The Carnaross Mart manager said the factories and feedlots alike are keen for heavy bullocks.
“Buying activity from feedlots has picked up significantly over the past 2-3 weeks and this is expected to continue over the coming weeks. It’s all supply and demand but the outlook is good,” he said.
“Wholesale buyers are active for the smaller 600kg well-fleshed bullocks and northern activity remains steady with over 100 cattle going north from the Monday night sale.”
“The store bullock trade is dominated primarily by farmers,” McElroy added.
“Many of the current buyers have got good money for heavy cattle they sold this year and are coming back to the ring for a lighter-type feeding bullock and these farmers have plenty of buying power.
“Farmers are getting on well with their heavy cattle and this is keeping a good level of confidence in the trade.”