There was a strong trade for all categories of cattle at Macroom Mart's weekly cattle sale on Saturday, March 26.

Commenting on the sale, Macroom Mart's Jerh O'Sullivan said "a flying trade" was witnessed for dry cows of all weights, grades and fat covers.

Interestingly, the Macroom Mart manager also noted a definite improvement in lighter store-cattle from the slight dip in prices seen over the past three weeks.

He added that the good weather and warmer conditions have brought out grass buyers in larger numbers.

Starting with the calves, export-type Friesian bull calves sold from between €15 and €95, while the stronger-type of these calves sold up to a top price of €180.

Aberdeen-Angus cross and Hereford-cross bull calves were generally selling from €110 up to a top price of €335, while Aberdeen-Angus cross and Hereford-cross heifers sold from between €70 to €295.

Continental bull calves and heifer calves both sold for as high as €495.

Meanwhile, in the dry cow ring, prices were good, with cows selling from €1.80/kg to as high as €2.50/kg.

Sample prices from the dry cow ring:

The majority of continental bullocks at Macroom Mart sold for between €2.40/kg and €2.80/kg, depending on quality, while heifers sold from between €2.30 and€2.75/kg.

Sample prices from the bullock ring:

Lighter-type store bullocks:

Sample prices from the heifer ring:

Macroom Mart also hosted its first evening suckler sale on Thursday, March 24.

The sale got underway at 6:30p.m and included in the inaugural evening sale was a herd of 40 autumn-calving Limousin cows with Limousin calves at foot.

Sample prices from the suckler sale:

Most of the cows in the sale were back in-calf again to an artificial insemenation (AI) Limousin bull or a 5-star Limousin stockbull.

The stock were primarily U-grade type females and were all genotyped. Most of the cows are 75% Limousin, with Simmental and Saler genetics, the Macroom Mart manager explained.

Macroom Mart also plans to host a further two evening suckler sales in April.