The cattle sale at Kilkenny Mart on Thursday (October 16) saw "trade a bit sharper" for heifers and bullocks, with 1,060 head on offer.

The sale was a smaller one than the previous week, with 100 less cattle on offer.

Auctioneer George Candler said that heifers met a sharper trade compared to last week, resulting in a 100% clearance, and that beef bullocks were more sought after also, with factory and wholesale agents active.

There was a 95% clearance for bullocks.

Quality continental bullocks and heifers sold for between €4.30/kg to €4.70/kg, with the top performers nearing the €5/kg mark.

Bullocks

For bullocks over 600kg, the average price per kilogramme was €3.85, and the average price per head was €2,570.

Prices ranged between €3.40 and €4.72 per kilogramme, or €2,120 to €3,030 per head.

Some sample prices from the sale include:

Three Charolais bullocks weighing 765kg on average went for €3,030/head, or €3.96/kg;
Two 750kg Hereford bullocks made €2,760/head, or €3.68/kg;
A 705kg Limousin bullock made €3,020, or €4.28/kg;
Two 665kg Friesian bullocks made €2,470/head, or €3.71/kg.

For bullocks between 500kg and 600kg, the average price per kilogramme came to €3.90, and the average price per head was €2,085.

Price ranged from €3.15 to €4.59 per kilogramme, or €1,750 to €2,640 per head.

In the 400-500kg range, the average price per kilogramme was €4 on the dot, while the average price per head was €1,700.

Buyers paid between €3 and €4.80 per kilogramme, which worked out to between €1,340 and €2,120 per head.

Some sample prices from this category include:

One 495kg Charolais bullock made €2,120, or €4.28/kg;
Three Limousin bullocks weighing 485kg on average made €2,100/head, or €4.33/kg;
Three Aberdeen Angus bullocks weighing 480kg on average made €2,060/head, or €4.29/kg;
A pen of seven Hereford bullocks weighing 475kg on average made €1,920/head, or €4.04/kg.

Finally for the bullocks, the average price per kilogramme for those under 400kg was €3.80, and the average price per head was €1,425.

Price ranged between €3.50 and €4.63 per kilogramme, and between €1,270 and €1,700 per head.

Each of these weight categories included Frisian bullocks, which obtained prices between €1,400 per head (under 400kg) to €2,470 (over 600kg).

Heifers

Moving on to heifers, and beef heifers averaged €3.90/kg, or €2,400 per head, at Kilkenny this week.

Between €3.55 and €4.40 was paid per kilogramme, which translated to between €2,000 and €2,930 per head.

One 700kg Limousin heifer made €2,930, or €4. 19/kg, while another 660kg Limousin heifer went for €2,720, or €4.12/kg.

Forward store heifers averaged €3.80/kg, with prices ranging from €3.50 to €4.44 per kilogramme, or between €1,680 to €2,310 per head.

Some sample prices from this sale include:

Two 520kg Limousin heifers made €2,190/head, or €4.21/kg;
Two 510kg Aberdeen Angus heifers made €1,810/head, or €3.55/kg;
A 500kg Charolais heifer made €2,220, or €4.44/kg;
A pen of five Charolais heifers weighing 470kg on average made €1,720/head, or €3.66/kg.

Light store heifers also averaged €3.80/kg, with prices ranging from €3 to €4.75 per kilogramme, which worked out at €850 to €1,830 per head.

Cull cows

At Kilkenny Mart this week, Frisian cull cows went for between €1.60 and €3.20 per kilogramme.

Continental, Angus and Hereford cows, meanwhile, went for between €2.80 and €4.00 per kilogramme.