Granard Mart hosted its weekly cattle sales, with dry cows, bullocks and heifers being sold on Wednesday (December 2). The mart also hosted weanlings on Monday (November 30), alongside a special suckler cow reduction sale.
AgriLand got in touch with Charlotte Kearney, the mart’s manager, after Wednesday’s sale to get her thoughts on the trade and farmers’ reactions to being allowed back at ringside following the lifting of Level 5 Covid-19 restrictions. She stated:
“You could see the confidence is back amongst buyers this week by having the ringside buying back in action. It’s just great to see that bit of activity back around the ring.
We are definitely up in terms of numbers compared to the same week last year, I suppose with the restrictions lifting it gave some farmers that bit more freedom to sell their cattle.
“On Monday night we would have up to 300 head of cattle made up weanlings and a special reduction sale of suckler cows. We had close to 200 head of cattle at the mart on Wednesday. This is almost double the number of cattle we had the previous week – which is unheard of really for the time of year.
“It’s not like previous years where the majority of cattle would have been sold and the mart would be winding down coming into December.
“Looking forward to next week with the bookings of cattle we have in so far, the number of lots and trade should be just as good.
“We have made the decision in order to facilitate these high numbers coming forward, that we are going to be holding sales right up until December 21.”
Wednesday’s Sale
On Wednesday, continental-bred dry cows (over 650kg) traded at €1.88/kg back to €1.34/kg. Meanwhile, Friesian-bred cows sold at an average of €1.06/kg.
“We had a full clearance rate of cows, with close to 30 head of dry cows being sold. The heifer trade was very good and seemed to command strong demand,” according to Charlotte.
Charlotte noted that it was the quality of females on offer that aided the “strong trade” on Wednesday. She explained:
One thing I noticed this week is the quality of heifers on offer was much improved. It makes you think that some farmers were holding back on selling those quality stores in recent weeks.
In the bullock ring, the store trade remained solid on Wednesday with continental-bred steers (weighing 400-500kg) trading at an average of €2.25/kg. Heavier Charolais and Limousin stores (over 500kg) sold from €2.17-2.40/kg.
Also Read: Pics and prices: Quality continental stores on offer at Granard Mart