Castlereas Mart held its weekly sale of cattle on Thursday (September 30) which saw a "strong trade all-round" according to the mart's manager, Brendan Egan.

After the sale, Agriland spoke with Brendan to get his thoughts on the trade. He said: "We saw a good trade for classes of stock on offer, with 650 cattle sold on the day.

"Starting with those younger calves, in particular, the bull calves were a flying trade and sold from €280/head up to €320/head. Then the runners sold up to €840/head for continental types.

"The heifer trade remains very strong here at Castlerea, with plenty of customers around the ring and online, which resulted in a good clearance."

Sample heifer prices:

Brendan noted that a lot of farmers are back around the ring looking to build up numbers again.

He said: "A lot of farmers are back around the ring having sold or killed a lot of their stock already, and are looking to build up numbers again.

"There was a good interest there for the weanlings, as well as the Aberdeen Angus heifers - which we had our annual show and sale of on Thursday."

Sample weanling bull prices:

Sample weanling heifer prices:

Brendan added that there weren't that many heavy beef cattle on offer in Castlerea on Thursday, with the majority on offer consisting of forward stores.

He explained: "There weren't that many heavy beef cattle there on Thursday. A lot of those heavy beef cattle have gone through the system in the last few months.

"It's rare enough of late to see any heavy 750-800kg beef cattle on offer - a lot of them are gone at this stage.

"Cull cows on Thursday were on par with other weeks. Culls peaked at €2,050.

"While cows with calves at foot traded from €1,080 up to €2,510 and springers made from €1,360 up to €1,500," Brendan concluded by saying.