Granard Mart in Co. Longford hosted its weekly cow heifer and bullock sale on Wednesday, October 23, with over 100 cows, 230 bullocks and 200 heifers on offer in the sale.

Speaking to Agriland after the sale, Jodie Reilly from Granard Mart said: "Good store cattle are up near €150/head in the last few weeks and there was nearly a full clearance from the sale."

He said that export customers were buying cattle at the sale, but activity was back slightly on other weeks. Despite this, farmer customers were more than able to pick up the slack as well as factory agents and specialist beef finishers.

Sample prices from the cow sale at Granard Mart:

In the cow sale, the top price was €2,540 for an 860kg Limousin cow. The top price paid per kilo for cows was €3.01/kg for an 800kg Charolais cow that made €2,410.

Friesian cows made up to €1,520 or €2.37/kg for a 640kg Friesian cow. On the other end of the scale, a 490kg Friesian cow made €620 or €1.26/kg. Another 510kg Friesian cow made €840 or €1.65/kg.

In the heifer sale, heifers in the 430kg-500kg weight range averaged €2.85/kg - up almost 10c/kg from the previous week and over 30c/kg from the average price in October 2023.

Heifers over 500kg averaged €3.03/kg or just over €1,730/head. The average price in this weight range is up 10c/kg on the previous week and up by over 45c/kg on October of last year.

The top price/kg was €3.54/kg and was paid for a 620kg Charolais heifer that made €2,200.

Sample prices from the heifer sale at Granard Mart:

In the bullock sale, the average price for steers under 500kg was €3.11/kg with a top price/kg in this weight range of €4.07/kg that was paid for a 400kg Charolais bullock that made €1,630.

Prices in this weight range were up 21c/kg when compared to the same time last year.

Bullocks weighing from 500-550kg averaged €3.52/kg up 78c/kg on this time last year.

Sample bullock prices from the sale at Granard Mart:

Commenting on the weanling sale at the mart venue on Monday night, October 21, he said:

"The weanlings were a savage trade. Them good Charolais weanlings are averaging over €4.00/kg and some of them heading close to the €5/kg for them nice little Charolais cattle."

Weanling bulls reached a top price per kilo of €4.91/kg for a 240kg Charolais bull calf that sold for €1,180. The average price in the weanling bull sale is up 46c/kg on this time last year.

The top price in the weanling bull sale was €1,630 for a 435kg Limousin bull calf.

Weanling heifers under 300kg averaged €2.89/kg with a top price of €3.62/kg.

Reilly noted that a lot of the top-end weanlings on the price and quality scale are being all purchased by farmers .

Granard Mart is hosing a suckler sale on Monday evening (October 28) in conjunction with its weanling sale.

The sale will feature a special entry of 30 springing red Limousin heifers as well as 250 weanling bulls and 150 weanling heifers.