Camera at the Mart: grass buyers out in force in Ballymote

With 240 weanling bulls and heifers on offer, Ballymote Mart’s final spring weanling sale consisted of some late spring and summer 2023 calves, with a small portion of quality autumn-born calves also on offer.

Suckler-bred animals dominated, with U and R grading bulls and heifers achieving over €3.20/kg with ease.

Plainer types or those with poor weight for age were below the €3/kg mark, though numbers of these types were small.

Ballymote mart manager David Faughan said: “There was a strong demand overall, particularly from grass buyers, with a high clearance rate.”

In the heifer ring, 170 passed through. Charolais-cross heifers dominated numbers, with the majority of those weighing in the 300kg to 400kg bracket.

Heifers of this weight averaged €3.13kg, up from €2.96/kg on this time last year, while Belgian Blue-cross heifers averaged a hefty €4.17/kg, Charolais-cross €3.04/kg, Limousin-cross €3.29/kg and Angus-cross €2.75/kg.

Lighter heifers weighing 200kg to 300kg averaged €3.25/kg, up 22c/kg on last year, while a small selection of heavy heifers over 400kg averaged €3.31/kg, up 41c/kg on last year.

Some stand-out prices were paid in all weight brackets in the heifer ring for top-quality lots suitable for breeding or fatstock sales, with examples being a Limousin-cross weighing 295kg selling for €1,360 9€4.61/kg), a Limousin-cross weighing 370kg selling for €1,980 (€5.35/kg) and a Limousin-cross weighing 405kg selling for €2,140.

A smaller number of bulls were present, with about 70 lots on offer. Demand was split between farmer buyers for non-continental or lighter type Charolais and Limousin-cross bulls, with exporters shipping to the continent very active for all weights of top-end bulls.

Bull weanlings from 200kg to 300kg recorded the best average price per kilo in the bull ring at €3.37/kg, while bulls weighing 300kg to 400kg averaged €3.01/kg.

In this weight bracket, some better-quality dairy- beef and suckler-bred non-continentals were present and sold for 20c to 25c/kg shy of their continental counterparts. Heavy bulls weighing 400kg-plus were smaller in number, with a mix of exporters and bull beef finishers competing.