Kilkenny Mart: Positive trend in trade for beef and lamb to continue

As we make our way towards Christmas the trade for all livestock remains strong with no reason to believe that the positive trend for beef and lamb will remain in the months ahead.

Supply and demand will always rule the roost and this was evident on Monday when all lambs showed an increase for all lots by €2 to €6 per head compared to last weeks returns.
The fact that there were only 300 sheep on offer meant that potential buyers had to dig deeper to secure stock.

In pictures: Windgap's John Smyth Memorial Tractor Run, Kilkenny 2021

Click through to see the pictures by Harry Reid

Final sheep sale
Our final sheep sale of the year is Monday, December 20, with the first sheep sale of 2022 taking place on Monday, January 10.

We also held a dairy sale on Monday with Friesian maiden heifers ranging from €500 to €850 per head, in calf lots from €900 to €1460 per head and fresh calved Friesian cows and heifers ranging from €1150 to €1860 per head.

Final Dairy Sale
Our final dairy sale of the year takes place on Monday, December 13, at 12.30pm with entries now being taken.
Thursday’s cattle sale was a lively affair and even though numbers were bigger (840 on offer) trade remained very firm with both cull cows and heifers recording a 100% clearance and bullocks 92%.

Beef Sale
Beef bullocks saw prices range from €1150 to €1910 per head. Forward store bullocks from €700 to €1570 per head and lighter types €500 to €1010 per head.
The fact that quality Friesian bullocks ranged from €1.90 to €2.16 per kilo shows the strength of the trade.

Beef heifers were also in demand with €1200 to €1630 per head being the run of things with forward and light stores from €500 to €1230 per head, depending on weight and quality.
In the cull cow sector the top call was for a Blonde cow which weighed 790 kilo and made €2000.
Continental types ranged from €1.40 to €2.53 per kilo with Friesian/Jersey types from €1.00 to €1.86 per kilo.

Remember all cattle should be entered before 3.30pm on the previous Wednesday so contact 056 7721407 for entries and further details.

Lions Hamper Appeal
A big thank you for all of you that supported the Kilkenny Lions Hamper Appeal on last Thursday night’s farm show.
We had an excellent response resulting in 94% of value being achieved. This week all items for this week’s Farming Program on KCLR between 7.05pm and 8pm appear in this copy of the Kilkenny People (see pages 49/ 50/ 51) with the hotline number being 056 7796223.
Have a look at the items and if interested please call us on the night.
Next week I will give a run down of how things went.
Do be careful on the farm and good buying, good selling and good luck.

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