There was a red hot trade for suckler bred calves at the first autumn weanling sale in Ballymena Mart on Saturday and cattle quality was exceptional across the 580 lots on offer.

Prices topped £5,100 for a 470kg Limousin heifer from Armoy breeder Ivan Lynn, who for the second year in a row, had the first, second and third prize winning Limousin calves in the male and female classes.

Stand out heifers weighing over 400kg saw £3,000 paid for a 450kg Limousin with £2,800 for a 450kg lot and £2,500 on a 410kg Limousin.

A big run of heifers weighing 300kg to 400kg sold to £3,000 for a 320kg Limousin with a Blue cross animal at 400kg made £2,800.

The main run of prices at the upper end of the market ran from £1,300 to £2,100 with Charolais heifers at the outlined weight range hitting a top of £1,380 for a 310kg animal.

Heifers under 300kg were also met with exceptionally strong buying demand and again, the Limousin-sired animals dominated the trade.

Prices topped £1,720 for a 250kg Limousin, while a 260kg Charolais bred animal hit £1,600 with other notable lots seeing £1,490 for a 290kg Charolais and £1,350 for a 260kg Limousin cross.

Bullocks

In the bullock ring, prices topped £1,780 for a 440kg Charolais followed by £1,720 on two occasions for Limousin-bred animals weighing 460kg and 470kg respectively. Bullocks weighing 200kg to 400kg saw prices top £1,660 for a 400kg Charolais followed by £1,630 for a 370kg lot of similar breeding.

Limousin bullocks in this weight range hit £1,560 for a 380kg lot with £1,500 paid for a 350kg animal.

Bullocks under 300kg topped £1,260 for a 260kg Limousin followed by £1,280 for a 280kg Charolais-bred animal.