High-maternal heifers to go under the hammer at Ballybay Mart

The sixth annual maiden suckler heifer sale is set to take place at Ballybay Mart on April 28. The sale will kick off at 11:00am.

It will feature 30 heifers – genotyped 4-star and 5-star – with an average maternal rating of €133; the top heifer for sale has a maternal rating of €160. This heifer is sired by Limousin bull, Castleview Gazelle (ZAG); her dam was sired by Charolais bull, Fiston (FSZ).

Furthermore, 16 heifers from the remaining 29 have been bred from AI bulls.

These sires include:

Castleview Gazelle (ZAG);
On-Dit (ONI);
Hauteclair (HCA);
Seaview Tommy (SEV);
Rio (RIO);
Highfield Odran (SA2153);
Fiston (FSZ).

Mairead Kirk, a Teagasc beef advisor in Co. Monaghan, outlined some of the details surrounding the sale.

“This is the only sale of genotyped heifers in Ireland this spring. It should be of real interest to farmers who need to buy genotyped 4-star or 5-star heifers to meet the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) requirements.

“All of the heifers are supplied by members of local Teagasc suckler discussion groups,” she added.

Teagasc beef advisor Mairead Kirk

Ballybay Mart manager Seamus McCarville highlighted that previous sales have been a major success. He said: “This sale has grown from strength to strength, with repeat buyers from throughout the country returning year-on-year to buy top-quality suckler breeding stock.”

In addition, all of the breeding heifers on offer have been scanned not in-calf and suitable for breeding by Dr. Dan Ryan. A full catalogue, including ICBF ratings, is available here.