The sun was shining around Clones Mart on Thursday (March 18) as AgriLand visited the Monaghan mart when it played host to its weekly sale of cattle.
There was a nice selection in the cattle brought forward, with heifers overtaking the majority of the supply on offer. The numbers of heavy or forward-type cattle were notably low this week.
Starting off with the dry cows, there was over 20 of these females up for grabs on Thursday.
Prices for continentals started off at €1.51/kg and sold up to €1.88/kg. The Friesian cows sold from €1.51/kg back to €0.77/kg.
There were some in-calf cows on offer that saw prices topped at €1,580 for a young Charolais cow in-calf to a Charolais bull. One Hereford stock bull sired by F.H. William sold for €1,400.
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.
- Simmental cow weighing 740kg sold for €1,170 or €1.58/kg
- Charolais cow weighing 826kg sold for €1,250 or €1.51/kg
- Charolais cow weighing 632kg sold for €960 or €1.51/kg
- Simmental cow weighing 740kg sold for €1,140 or €1.54/kg
- In-calf Charolais cow sold for €1,530
- Hereford stock bull sold for €1,400
Heifers
In the store cattle trade, prices seemed to be slightly back in comparison to the trade the week before – however there was still some good money paid for stock.
Heifers weighing in at 400-500kg were seeing bids beginning at €2.18/kg and moving up to €2.55/kg for continentals, with one outlying price of €2.08/kg paid. Hereford heifers in the same weight bracket were selling at €1.89-2.04/kg.
Moving up the scales to the 500-600kg category, continental heifers sold at an average of €2.17/kg up to €2.35/kg – one or two prices peaked up to €2.47/kg.
The top price paid for a forward heifer was €1,690 or €2.41/kg for a Charolais weighing 700kg.
- Charolais heifer weighing 554kg sold for €1,360 or €2.45/kg
- Hereford heifer weighing 454kg sold for €890 or €1.96/kg
- Limousin heifer weighing 584kg sold for €1,340 or €2.29/kg
- Charolais heifer weighing 498kg sold for €1,040 or €2.08/kg
- Limousin heifer weighing 464kg sold for €1,170 or €2.52/kg
- Charolais heifer weighing 480kg sold for €1,180 or €2.45/kg
- Charolais heifer weighing 700kg sold for €1,690 or €2.41/kg
- Hereford heifer weighing 420kg sold for €860 or €2.04/kg
- Charolais heifer weighing 648kg sold for €1,530 or €2.36/kg
Sample heifer prices:
- Charolais: 432kg – €1,080 or €2.50/kg;
- Limousin: 456kg – €1,050 or €2.30/kg;
- Hereford: 456kg – €930 or €2.03/kg;
- Charolais: 468kg – €1,050 or €2.24/kg;
- Charolais: 494kg – €1,160 or €2.34/kg;
- Charolais: 530kg – €1,250 or €2.35/kg;
- Limousin: 550kg – €1,330 or €2.41/kg;
- Limousin: 556kg – €1,250 or €2.24/kg;
- Charolais: 570kg – €1,260 or €2.21/kg.
Bullocks
Turning to the bullocks, they were not as plentiful as the heifers, yet some quality stores passed through the ring.
Light continental bullocks (under 400kg) ranged from €2.13/kg all the way up to €2.62/kg – with the average hitting closer to €2.50/kg.
There was a shortage of bullocks weighing between 400-500kg – the averages paid were hitting €2.22/kg for mainly Limousin-cross stores.
The 500-600kg continental bullock was selling from €2.13/kg up to €2.22/kg – with Hereford crosses peaking at €2.13/kg.
Topping the trade on Thursday was a Charolais cross bullock weighing in at 800kg and selling for €2,000 or €2.51/kg. Again, these forward cattle over 600kg were scarce this week and sold at an average of €2.15/kg.
- Hereford bullock weighing 562kg sold for €1,200 or €2.13/kg
- Charolais bullock weighing 800kg sold for €2,000 or €2.51/kg
- Belgian Blue bullock weighing 540kg sold for €1,200 or €2.22/kg
- Hereford bullock weighing 550kg sold for €1,130 or €2.05/kg
- Simmental bullock weighing 604kg sold for €1,370 or €2.26/kg
- Limousin bullock weighing 428kg sold for €990 or €2.31/kg
Sample bullock prices:
- Charolais: 316kg – €830 or €2.62/kg;
- Limousin: 285kg – €730 or €2.56/kg;
- Limousin: 475kg – €1,050 or €2.21/kg;
- Limousin: 546kg – €1,190 or €2.17/kg;
- Belgian Blue: 540kg – €1,200 or €2.22/kg;
- Hereford: 550kg – €1,130 or €2.05/kg;
- Charolais: 550kg – €1,190 or €2.16/kg;
- Limousin: 570kg – €1,220 or €2.14/kg;
- Angus: 604kg – €1,270 or €2.10/kg;
- Limousin: 608kg – €1,280 or €2.10/kg.