Clare Co-Operative Marts held its weekly cattle sale in Ennis Mart on Thursday (July 23), where 718 cattle went through the ring with the top call going to a 1,215kg Charolais bull.

The sale is the largest so far this month, with a lot of forward and aged cattle through the ring.

Interestingly, a mart report issued after the sale noted that there was "not much finished beef".

A Charolais bull weighing 1,215kg sold for €4,500 at €3.70/kg. Another stand-out sale for aged bulls was the €3,360 paid for an 810kg Belgian Blue bull, equivalent to €4.02/kg.

There were 30 aged bulls through the ring and these averaged €3.43/kg. There were also a number of "vasectomised bulls" in the sale.

The bullock trade saw minor improvements, with cattle weighing up to 600kg holding steady with the previous week's trade.

Bullocks over 600kg were a "little easier". A top sale from the bullock ring was the €2,690 paid for a Limousin-cross bullock weighing 535kg at €5.03/kg.

Four Limousin-cross bullocks weighing on average 505kg each sold for €2,500/head at €4.95/kg. One Charolais bullock weighing 655kgs sold for €2,860 at €4.36/kg.

Below are some further sample prices from the sale:

Three 626kg Charolais bullocks sold for €2,600/head at €4.15/kg;
Four Hereford-cross bullocks weighing on average 408kgs each sold for €1,660 at €4.06/kg;
One Friesian bullock weighing 870kgs sold for €3,150 at €3.50/kg.

Ennis Mart manager Martin McNamara, commenting on the heifer trade, said heifers up to 500kgs were dearer but cattle over this weight were "easier" by 10c/kg.

A 390kg Charolais-cross heifer sold for €2,070 at €5.31/kg. Another Charolais heifer weighing 505kg sold for €2,460 at €4.87/kg, while a 600kg Hereford-cross heifer sold for €2,170 at €3.62/kg.

Cull cows were marginally "easier" as well, according to McNamara, with some "excellent" cull cows on offer.

The top sale from Ennis for cull cows was a 845kg Belgian Blue cull cow who sold for €3,700 at €4.38/kg.

Other impressive sales included the 570kg Charolais cull cow sold for €2,410 at €4.22/kg and the 665kg Limousin-cross cow sold for €2,700 at €4.06/kg.

Some further cull cow sales from Ennis are listed below:

A 780kg Limousin-cross cow sold for €2,880 at €3.69/kg;
Two 692kg Friesian cross cows sold for €2,070/head at €2.99/kg;
A 585kg Friesian cow sold for €1,900 at €3.25/kg;
A 755kg Charolais-cross cow sold for €2,860 at €3.79/kg;
A 720kg Limousin cow sold for €2,880 at €4.00/kg.