On Tuesday, March 22, Carnew Mart conducted the clearance sale for Sean O’Leary from Rathnure, Co. Wexford.
The 100 lots on offer were made up of 60 freshly calved cows and heifers, 10 springing heifers, 15 bulling heifers and 15 heifer calves.
Prior to the sale the herd was producing, on average, 6,153L of milk and 479kg of milk solids.
All the stock on offer were artificial insemination (AI) bred, using top sires from Progressive Genetics.
Carnew dairy sale
Commenting on the sale, Eugene Clune from Carnew Mart stated: “The herd was very well presented on the day and trade was electric throughout.
“Farmers, both ringside and online, battled it out for the stock on offer.”
The sale started with the small number of fifth and sixth-lactation cows that were on offer, which sold from €1,700 up to €1,900.
They were followed by the freshly calved heifers that sold from €1,900, to a top call of €2,200.
One of the heifers with an economic breeding index (EBI) of €171, calved since February 3, and sired by FR 4338, sold for €2,140.
The second and third calvers were next into the ring. There were 18 on offer in total, with all of them achieving prices of €2,000 and over.
A second calver with an EBI of €162, calved since January 26, and sired by FR 4020, sold for €2,120.
Youngstock
The bulling heifers were described by Eugene as a very nice group. They were all on target and sired by bulls such as FR 4482, FR 4337 and FR5593, with EBIs of between €180 and €235.
They achieved prices of between €860 and €990 on the day.
The heifer calves by the same sires, with EBIs between €190 and €250, achieved prices of €320 up to €400.