Dungannon farmers’ mart, Co. Tyrone, held its final dairy sale of the year, last Thursday (December 17).

To get a bit of insight into the trade at the Co. Tyrone mart, AgriLand caught up with the auctioneer Michael Taaffe of Taaffe Auctions.

”The sale continued to see the strong trade we’ve seen all through the autumn sales, with anything fresh and in milk in high demand,” Taaffe said.

The sale contained 83 lots put forward for sale on the day, with cows, heifers and bulls on offer.

Stock on offer

The milking portion of the catalogue boasts daughters of top AI sires such as Achiever; Bloomfield; De-Su Curry; Galahad; Magictouch; Perseus; Rubi Agronaut; and Rubicon.

With milk recording results from one of the seller’s herds (the Taughlumny herd) averaging 9,261kg at 4.54% butterfat and 3.52% protein.

”We are seeing a very brisk dairy trade at the moment; top price of the day went to an in-calf cow for 3,150gns [guineas],” Taaffe added. One gns is equivalent to £1.05 or €1.16.

”The in-calf heifers were the slowest part of the day with prices seen between 1,450-1,850gns; they have been the least in demand throughout the autumn.”