330kg bullocks make over €2,000 or €6.20/kg at Delvin
Delvin Mart in Co. Westmeath hosted its weekly general cattle sale on Thursday, May 29 and speaking to Agriland afterwards, Elliott Potterton of Delvin Mart said there were 250 cattle on offerwith a full clearance.
There were over 100 bullocks – 80% of which were under 500kg, and in the bullock sale, prices topped out at €6.24/kg for a year-old 330kg Limousin bullock that made €2,060, bought by a farmer.
Bullocks under 500kg averaged €4.08/kg or €1,420/head on average.
Potterton said: 'Last year, the May 2024 average sale price for bullocks under 500kg at Delvin Mart was €2.62/kg – an average price increase of €1.46/kg.
'That's the same across all weight categories – they were all about €2.60/kg last year and they're all averaging about €4/kg plus this year.'
In the heifer sale, the top price went to a 325kg pedigree Limousin heifer that sold for €2,700 or €8.30/kg bought by a suckler farmer for breeding.
Two Limousin heifers averaging 295kg sold for €1,480 or €5.01/kg and another 315kg Limousin heifer sold for €1,710 or €5.42/kg.
Heifers under 300kg averaged €4.25/kg while the 300-400kg heifers averaged €4.01/kg.
400-500kg heifers averaged €4.14/kg, which was up from an average price of €2.70/kg this time last year, while heifers over 500kg averaged €4.06/kg.
According to Potterton: 'The average price in yesterday's sale for cows over 500kg was €3.18/kg. That's up from €2.05/kg in May 2024.
'In money terms, cows over 500kg were averaging €1,270 in May 2024 and and at the sale on Thursday, they averaged €2,000/head and there's a lot of Friesian cows in the sale here.
'There was a 655kg Friesian cow that made €2,580 or €3.93/kg at the sale here on Thursday.'
Calves at Delvin Mart
There were over 130 calves sold in the Thursday sale, leading to a full clearance with strong prices continuing.
Potterton said: 'There were beef-sired calves sold here of Friesian/Jersey-cross cows coming into €500, you'd have change out of €150 buying some of them last year.'
The top price in the calf sale went to a reared Simmental bull calf off a Friesian cow that made €790 and was bought by an exporter.
Potterson said that some farmers sold May-born calves at the most recent sale that averaged €350 and the same calves 'would have done well to average €200 last year'.
The mart also hosted its sheep sale on Thursday with the trade described as 'a little easier' and 40-50kg lambs averaging €3.84/kg, which was back on the average price from last year.
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