Balla Mart in Co. Mayo hosted its weekly general cattle sale on Saturday, April 12, with a big show of cattle on offer, according to mart manager Michael Nolan.

Prices in the sale saw a lift of €20-50/head or 10c/kg to which the mart manager said: "2023-born bullocks weighing around 480kg were freely making around €2,500 with some additional buyers pushing it on".

Bullocks in the 300-400kg weight category averaged €4.46/kg while store bullocks weighing from 400-500kg also averaged €4.46/kg and heavier bullocks weighing over 500kg averaged €4.47/kg.

A Charolais bullock weighing 480kg made €2,660 or €5.54/kg. A heavier 770kg bullock made €3,760 or €4.88/kg.

Nolan said: "The majority of those heavy bullocks in the sale went to customers from Northern Ireland."

Some of the top bullock prices from Balla Mart:

255kg Charolais bullock sold for €1,450 or €5.69/kg;
330kg Charolais bullock sold for €1,980 or €6:00/kg;
375kg Limousin bullock sold for €2,130 or €5.68/kg;
480kg Charolais bullock sold for €2,660 or €5.54/kg.

There were a total of 400 heifers on offer in the sale with a good level of demand from customers, though the mart manager said that the quality of the heifers on offer in the sale "had slipped a bit on last week".

Lighter store heifers weighing from 300-400kg averaged €4.18/kg and heifers weighing from 400-500kg averaged €4.21/kg.

Heavy heifers over 500kg averaged €4.33/kg. One of the top prices went to a 785kg Charolais heifer that sold for €3,300 or €4.20/kg and a LMX weighing 735kg made €3,160 or 4.30/kg.

Some of the top heifer prices from Balla Mart:

260kg Charolais heifer sold for €1,550 or €5.96/kg;
370kg Belgian Blue heifer sold for €2,180 or €5.89/kg;
470kg Belgian Blue heifer sold for €2,820 or €6.00/kg;
595kg Limousin heifer sold for €2,860 or €4.77/kg;
620kg Limousin heifer sold for €3,000 or €4.84/kg;
785kg Charolais heifer sold for €3,300 or €4.20/kg.

There were just over 170 lots on offer this week in the dry cow sale with a full clearance.

Nolan said: "There was a fine trade with cows over 500kg averaging €3.86/kg and the tops getting ‘London’."

One of the top prices in the dry cow ring went to a five-year-old dry cow weighing 1,010kg that sold for €4,430.