Kanturk Mart

There were 500 Calves sold through Kanturk Mart this week. For the month of March, Kanturk Credit Union sponsored a best breed calf class each week and this week was the Hereford class.

The breeder of the bull & heifer champion each received €100 and the buyer of each calf received €25.

The Male Champion was a five-week old Hereford bull calf which sold for €350, belonging to a farmer from Newmarket, Tony Aherne.

The Female Champion was awarded to a one-month old calf bred by John O’Keeffe from Boherbue and was sold for €300.

Overall, Hereford calves sold for between €220 and €300.

The demand continues to remain high for older, healthy calves around the one month old mark.

Bandon Mart

There were 1350 calves for sale in Bandon this week & the demand for beef bred calves remained as constant as has been all Spring.

The majority of Hereford calves sold for between €190 to €260 with the very top end of calves earning between €290 and €370 for strong calves around and under the six week mark.

Average prices this week according to ICBF were back on last week but only slightly – Hereford bulls sold at an average price of €239 and heifers at €203.

***Article & Photos accredited to Irish Farmers Journal: ‘In Pictures’ dated 15th March 21 & published paper dated 20th March 21***

Kilkenny Mart

There were 480 calves in total sold in Kilkenny calf sale this week with Hereford bull makes as high as €325 and heifers topping at €270.

Ballybay Mart

Again stronger and older calves were in better demand and earned higher prices with Hereford bulls earning upto €360/head. Heifers were between €20 -€30 cheaper than that again.

*** Report accredited to Agriland, ‘Calf Trade: Calf exporters return to action’, dated 17th March 2021***