While millions tuned in to watch Kellie Harrington claim her gold medal in the boxing ring in Paris on Tuesday night, Irish farming interests continue to be glued to the country’s mart rings, as the trade continues to kick on the back of very strong exporter demand.

The mart trade continues to be dominated by a few of the country’s largest exporters, with a few clashes ringside this week adding a little spice to the trade.

A few new kids on the block moved into other territories this week in marts they don’t usually frequent and ruffled a few feathers ringside.

Elphin Mart had a special sale of weanlings on Monday of this week, with exceptional demand for the top-quality lots.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, mart manager Ciaran Lynch said: “I never seen anything like it. We had bull weanlings weighing 500kg hitting €1,750/head or €3.50/kg.

“There was some serious money being paid for the top-quality weanlings.

“Exporters were taking farmer buyers out of it, with almost 70% of the bulls sold in Monday’s sale heading for export.

“I don’t know where next year’s good-quality store bullocks are going to come out of because between exporters paying big money and buying them, the traditional weanling to store buyer won’t be able to compete.

“It’s great to see these lads with the top weanlings getting rewarded though, they needed that lift.”

The export trade is showing no signs of easing, with a number of different exporters working on different long-term contracts between now and Christmas.

Ireland is currently capitalising on disease restrictions around Europe in relation to bluetongue.

There was a fear that these midges would make their way to Ireland, given its close proximity in Britain, but, as we enter into the autumn months and temperatures drop back, that risk will have abated.

Taking a look at this week’s Irish Farmers Journal Martbids analysis table, we see that weanlings had another very good week’s trading.

Top quality weanling bulls in the 400kg to 450kg weight category came in at €3.58/kg this week, up 33c/kg on the previous week.

Average-quality bulls in the same weight bracket came in at €3.25/kg this week, also up 32c/kg or over €100/head on the previous week’s prices.

Lighter bull weanlings in the 300kg to 400kg weight bracket came in at €3.72/kg for the top 33%, a lift of 10c/kg on the previous week.

Average-quality bulls in the same weight bracket came in at €3.21/kg. Lighter bull weanlings were also up, with top-quality lighter bulls coming in at €3.45/kg this week, up 30c/kg on the previous week.

Bullocks and heifers were a similar trade to last week, with top-quality bullocks in the 400kg to 500kg weight bracket being the big mover this week, up 18c/kg on the previous week to €3.09/kg.

Top-quality heavy bullocks over 600kg came in at €2.99/kg.

Heavy heifers were in demand, with top-end heifers in the 600kg-plus weight bracket coming in at €3.20/kg, a rise of 9c/kg on the previous week.

Plainer heifers in the 350kg to 400kg weight bracket were back a little this week, with the poorest-quality heifers coming in at €2.05/kg.