Mart reports from Ennis, Kanturk, Kilmallock, Kilkenny, Dowra, Balla and Castlerea

Light cattle trade back, as wintery weather begins to bite

Three January '25 born Hereford cross bullocks, averaging 476kg, sold for €1,770 each in Thurles Mart. Picture: O'Gorman Photography.

There is nothing like a bit of bad weather to keep a fellow's bidding hand in his pocket.

So no surprise then that this week, with wintry storms on the horizon, the mart trade, especially for smaller cattle, has taken a bit of a hit.

Ennis mart on Tuesday of this week had a big sale again with 1,018 head on offer.

The trade for weanling bulls was back in some cases by 5-10c/kg.

Weanling heifers were also a shade tougher on Tuesday and back 5c/kg on the week.

A May '25 born Friesian bullock, weighing 510kg, sold for €1,900 in Thurles Mart. Picture: O'Gorman Photography.

There was a big entry of runners, with bulls peaking at €1,760 a head and heifer runners hitting €1,480 a head.

There was a good entry of suckling stock with in-calf lots making up to €4,150 a head and pairs making to €3,400 per lot.

Ennis
Tuesday
No	Breed	Sex	Weight	€
1	Ch	bull	295kg	1900
3	Ch	bulls	355kg	2240
4	Lm	bulls	321kg	1900
1	Lm	bull	440kg	2660
1	Lm	heifer	280kg	1690
1	Lm	heifer	395kg	2300
3	Ch	heifers	270kg	1260

Finbarr Taylor of Kanturk Mart reported "a lively sale with a good trade all round," after Tuesday's cattle sale.

Top prices at Kanturk included three weanling Limousin bulls weighing 214kg selling for €1,140 and four Aberdeen Angus weanling heifers weighing 244kg selling for €955 a head.

Kanturk
Tuesday
No	Breed	Sex	Weight	€
6	AA	steers	545kg	1980
3	Ch	steers	580kg	1970
5	Hr	steers	439kg	1640
2	Hr	heifers	517kg	1770
4	AA	heifers	463kg	1530
1	Fr	cow	610kg	1860
1	Fr	cow	620kg	1880

1,000 cattle were sold at Kilmallock Mart this week.

There was strong trade for good strong cattle at the Limerick mart.

Bullocks on Monday made up to €2,970 a head or €4.52 per kg.

Four July '25 born Limousin bullocks, averaging 360kg, sold for €1,700 each in Thurles Mart. Picture: O'Gorman Photography.

Dry cows made sold for up to €2,360 a head or €3.28 per kg.

Heifers sold for up to €2,030 a head or €4.16 per kg.

Runners made up to €765 a head.

On Tuesday weanling bulls made up to €1,770 a head or €5.70 per kg.

Weanling heifers sold for up to €1,600 a head or €5.71 per kg.

A record price of €11,700 was paid for a bull at the Hereford Society bull sale in Kilmallock on Friday 16th of October.

Kilmallock
Monday
No	Breed	Sex	Weight	€
5	Ch	steers	639kg	2480
1	Hr	steer	380kg	1490
4	AA	steers	372kg	1480
4	AA	heifers	330kg	1170
3	Sh	heifers	343kg	1110
1	Hr	cow	605kg	1620
1	Fr	cow	610kg	1600

Kilkenny mart on Thursday last saw a decrease in numbers compared to last week with 100 less cattle on offer.

Heifers met a sharper trade compared to last week resulting in a 100% clearance.

Four April '25 born Hereford cross bullocks, averaging 473kg, sold for €1,800 each in Thurles Mart. Picture: O'Gorman Photography.

Beef bullocks were more sought after also with factory and wholesale agents active.

Quality continental bullocks and heifers were selling between €4.30 to €4.70 per kilo with the tops skirting the €5 per kilo mark.

Dry cows sold from €1.60 per kilo, up to €4 per kilo.

Kilkenny
Thursday
No	Breed	Sex	Weight	€
3	Ch	steers	765kg	3030
1	Lm	steer	705kg	3020
5	AA	steers	645kg	2530
6	AA	heifers	465kg	1800
2	Ch	heifers	310kg	1470
2	Lm	heifers	520kg	2190
2	AA	heifers	395kg	1440

Dowra Mart had another big sale of cattle this week with 700 cattle sold and the trade very similar to last week.

The top price on Saturday, €3,740 was given for a 1080kg PB Charolais bull.

Five February '25 born Hereford cross bullocks, averaging 558kg, sold for €2,050 each in Thurles Mart. Picture: O'Gorman Photography.

While the top price per kilo of €7.28 a kilo, was given for a Belgian Blue bull weanling weighing 330kg that sold for €2,400.

A nice young Charolais heifer weanling weighing 260 kilos made €1,790 or €6.89 per kilo.

Dowra
Saturday
No	Breed	Sex	Weight	€
1	Ch	steer	480kg	2240
1	Lm	steer	540kg	2570
1	BB	steer	580kg	2500
1	Ch	steer	625kg	2750
1	Lm	heifer	640kg	2700
1	Ch	cow	585kg	2260
1	Lm	cow	630kg	2370

Balla Mart in county Mayo had a very big sale with over 1020 cattle sold.

The Saturday's mart sale went on until 7pm.

The mart had some strong Charolais cattle on offer and those weighing over 700kg were making over the €3,000 a head mark.

The mart had a lot of the seven month old cattle on offer

Bullocks 300kg to 400kg averaged €4.06/kg.

Bullocks 400kg to 500kg averaged €4.14/kg.

While bullocks over 500kg averaged €3.93/kg

The quality of the heifers on offer was slightly back, however a good clearance was still achieved.

Heifers 300kg up to 400kg averaged €3.98/kg.

Heifers 400kg to 500kg averaged €3.90/kg.

And heifers over 500kg averaged €3.98/kg.

Balla mart had 158 dry cows on offer with the trade for cows similar to last week.

Balla
Saturday
No	Breed	Sex	Weight	€
1	Lm	steer	690kg	2850
1	Ch	steer	370kg	1900
1	Ch	steer	440kg	2440
1	Ch	heifer	800kg	3300
1	BB	heifer	480kg	3220
1	BB	heifer	555kg	3020
1	Lm	heifer	395kg	1940

Ennis Mart on Thursday had a big entry of heifers and cull cows with just over 600 on offer.

Cull cows held a fine trade with more of a mix of dairy cows.

Some of the dairy cows were out of the parlour and back at around €2/kg or less.

Generally heifers were up 5c-8c/kg on the week, with some great forward heifers on offer.

Beef heifers were scarce.

The mart had 20 aged bulls on offer and these averaged €3.46/kg with a Limousin bull weighing 1,060kg making €3,840.

An Aberdeen Angus weighing 715kg made €3,140 and a Limousin bull weighing 955kg made €3,400.

Ennis
Thursday
No	Breed	Sex	Weight	€
1	Lm	heifer	705kg	2860
2	Ch	heifers	682kg	2720
3	Hr	heifers	367kg	1300
1	Lm	heifer	495kg	2430
1	AA	cow	650kg	2420
1	Lm	cow	710kg	2760
1	Fr	cow	670kg	1960

Castlerea Mart had large numbers of stock presented for sale on Thursday, all categories noticed an increase in number, with the trade holding extremely well especially for the quality lots.

Plainer type stock tended to be a slightly easier trade.

The heifer ring reported a similar trade to last week with a variance in price between quality and plainer types.

The weanling rings reported a very lively trade with bulls hitting €7.29 a kilo, while heifers topped out at €6.84 a kilo.

The runner ring witnessed continentals making up to €1,860 a head, while Angus runners made up to €6.20 a kilo.

The dry cow ring recorded prices of up to €3,160 a head, while breeding stock recorded a top price of €3,800 per lot, for a cow with a calf at foot.

Springers made up to €3,480 a head.

Castlerea
Thursday
No	Breed	Sex	Weight	€
1	Ch	heifer	405kg	2010
1	Ch	heifer	390kg	1850
1	Sh	heifer	535kg	2550
1	Lm	heifer	445kg	2240
1	Sim	cow	905kg	3010
1	Lm	cow	720kg	2770
1	Fr	cow	440kg	920