Carnaross Mart, outside Kells, Co. Meath, held its weekly weanling and suckler sale on Tuesday, June 9 with 654 cattle on sale and a 97% clearance rate.

Speaking to Agriland after the sale, Carnaross Mart manager Padraig McElroy described the sale as "very good", and commented on the high lever of buyer activity from Northern Ireland.

The 654 cattle that went through the rings were made up of 392 bullocks, 219 heifers and a smaller number of sucklers.

The top price paid per kilo for bullocks on the night was €5.83/kg for a 295kg Charolais that totalled €1,720.

Younger cattle preformed very well, especially the continental-bred cattle with good weight for age. A young Angus bullock weighing 170kgs sold for €940 or €5.53/kg.

Below are some further bullock sample prices from the sale:

280kg Limousin bullock made €1,500 or €5.35/kg;
420kg Limousin bullock made €2,260 or €5.38;
370kg Limousin cross bullock made €1,870 or €5.05/kg
A pen of three Friesian bulls, weighing on average 250kgs, made €970/head or €3.88/kg.

The heifer trade was also strong with the top price paid out for a Charolais heifer that weighed in at 280kg and made €6.04/kg/ totalling €1,690.

Below are some sample prices paid out for heifers from the sale:

420kg Limousin heifer made €2,180 or €5.19/kg;
415kg Limousin heifer made €2,150 or €5.18/kg
310kg Hereford heifer made €1,340 or €4.32/kg;
295kg Angus heifer made €1,470 or €4.98/kg.

The Carnaross Mart manager noted that there was a lot of interest from Northern Ireland, with 140 cattle from the sale sold to Northern Irish buyers.

McElroy described the trade as being positive and said they are seeing "more confidence with farmers".

He cautiously suggested that this may be the beginning of the market stabilising.

Online sales are common-place in marts since the Covid-19 pandemic, and it plays a large role in Carnaross where the latest sale saw 43% of cattle sold to farmers bidding online.

According to McElroy, the amount of buyers bidding online is "usually around 50% every week".

Continental bullocks sold at the mart mainly ranged from younger stock around 7-8 months-of-age to older store cattle at the 12-14 months-of-age stage and a number of older mature cattle for finishing.