There was a weekly rise in numbers entered into Blessington Mart on Thursday, February 5 – as there was a selection of cattle from all age categories up for auction.
AgriLand visited the Wicklow-based mart this week to get an insight into how cattle are trading in the south-east.
With mixed reports this week of prices being slightly back in some marts for cattle, the majority of the continental forward-type heifers over 560kg were selling from €2.26/kg back to €2.01/kg. Lighter store heifers with similar breeding were sold from €2.08/kg up to €2.54/kg.
A selection of light Friesian heifers that were announced as potentially suitable for breeding sold from €1.40/kg up to €2.28/kg.
Taking a look at the bullocks, heavy Hereford steers weighing over 600kg were averaging €1.92/kg, while one Angus bullock sold at €1.90/kg.
Sample heifer prices:
- Charolais: 706kg – €1,460 or €2.06/kg;
- Charolais: 668kg – €1,370 or €2.05/kg;
- Limousin: 514kg – €1,070 or €2.08/kg;
- Hereford: 452kg – €870 or €1.92/kg;
- Friesian: 442kg – €730 or €1.65/kg;
- Limousin: 353kg – €840 or €2.37/kg.
Sample bullock prices:
- Hereford: 700kg – €1,350 or €1.92/kg;
- Limousin: 662kg – €1,400 or €2.11/kg;
- Limousin: 622kg – €1,330 or €2.13/kg;
- Hereford: 604kg – €1,160 or €1.92/kg;
- Friesian: 596kg – €990 or €1.66/kg.
Dry cows
In the dry cow section, there were plenty of store cows up for grabs. Friesians that required that extra bit of feeding were sold at €0.97-1.40/kg, while heavier types were ranging from €1.10/kg up to €1.50/kg.
The remaining continental and traditional breeds of cows were selling from €1.22/kg up to €1.93/kg.
Click on a thumbnail in the gallery (below) to open up a full-size image; once opened you can scroll sideways to see the next picture. Refer to each caption to see details of each lot, including the hammer price.
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- Friesian cow weighing 835kg sold for €1,260 or €1.50/kg
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- Hereford cow weighing 564kg sold for €690 or €1.22/kg
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- Friesian cow weighing 750kg sold for €1,040 or €1.38/kg
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- Limousin cow weighing 786kg sold for €1,340 or €1.70/kg
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- Friesian cow weighing 660kg sold for €860 or €1.30/kg
There was a small selection of calves on offer on Thursday. The majority of young Friesian bulls were trading at €30-85/head, with a top price recorded of €130/head achieved for a three-week-old bull.
Angus calves were trading at €145-190/head, while some strong Hereford calves over two months old sold between €260-315/head.
There were close to 10 springing in-calf heifers sold between €1,150/head up to €1,200/head.
In the weanling trade, it was mostly bulls on offer – with continentals ranging from €2.02/kg up to €2.52/kg.