IT might only be early in the year for the livestock trade but the opening sales of the marts around Galway have continued the trend from late 2024 with exceptionally strong trades for both sheep and cattle.

Athenry had a huge sheep mart on Monday last with over 1,050 lambs on offer as well as 350 old ewes – every lot under the hammer ended up being sold.

The top price per kg for lambs in Athenry was €4.30 with many lots touching the €200 mark while a couple of exceptional pens ‘shot the lights out’ with prices.

Twenty nine 56kg lambs sold for €236 or €4.21/kg while another smaller but outstanding pen of lambs, also 56kgs, made €232 or €4.14/kg.

Cull ewes also were in huge demand in Athenry – almost €1/kg dearer than this time last year – with two 100kg stags making €300 or €3/kg.

Mountbellew Mart also reported a stronger sheep trade last Saturday than the previous week with a lot of demand for fleshy hoggets while the stores also were a flying trade. Eleven outstanding ewe hoggets, 50kgs, sold for €222, or €4.42/kg while three 84.5/kgs stag ewes made €290 or €3.43/kg.

Meanwhile on the cattle front, there is no let-up with demand again seemingly exceeding supply by a fair margin. Beef Plan Galway reported this week a record factory price of €6.40/kg being paid for ‘a lot of exceptional quality cattle’.

General prices at the factories are averaging out at around the €5/80/€5.90/kg with €6/kg also achieved for in-spec quality lots.

At the marts, Gort reported a very positive and lively trade at their first sale last week with heifers making up to €3.47/kg while bulls topped out at €3.44/kg while good quality dry cows made up to €3.28/kg.

On Thursday, January 23rd, Gort Mart will host a clearance sale of in-calf cows, maiden heifers and a Limousin stock bull as well as their general sale. Sheep sales at Gort resume on Wednesday next, January 22, running fortnightly after that.

At Athenry Mart on Tuesday, only two cattle out of the 275 on offer went home unsold, an indicator of the briskness of the trade. Here, one outstanding Charolais dry cow, 870kgs, made €2,850 or €3.28/kg.

An outstanding Parthenaise X heifer in Athenry, 640kgs, sold for €2,320 or €3.63/kg – the average price across the board for the 65 heifers on offer came in at over €3.10c/kg.

Tuam Mart on Monday last and Headford Mart last Saturday also reported a strong demand for cattle. In Tuam, a super 1,000kgs Belgian Blue X cow, made €3,200 or €3.20/kg while a 504kg Aberdeen Angus X heifer at Headford made €1,690 or €3.35/kg.

Pictured: Noel Considine (centre) from Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare, is the new Manager at Headford Mart, pictured here at the mart’s first sale of the New Year, alongside Michael Conroy, Caherlistrane (on left), and Johnny Hannon. PHOTO: HANY MARZOUK.