The Irish Limousin Cattle Society will host its next sale this Friday, April 16th, 2021, at Athenry Mart.
The sale was initially scheduled to take place on Thursday, April 15th, however, it has been deferred.
In a brief statement to That’s Farming, a society spokesperson said:
“Our sale in Athenry has been deferred by 24 hours, due to circumstances outside the ILCS or Athenry Mart’s control. Everything remains the same but 24 hours later.”
41 bulls are catalogued for the sale, which is due to commence at 1 pm.
Viewing will take place between 9:30 am-12:30 pm on Friday strictly by prior appointment. To book your appointment, contact Athenry Mart on (091) 844072.
The sale is online-only on Marteye. i.e. – please ensure you download the Marteye app in advance of the sale. You can view a catalogue by clicking here.
What is on offer in Athenry this Friday? – 41 Limousin bulls – a bull to suit your requirements!
Terminal
32 of the bulls have a 5-star terminal index; of these 32 bulls, 20 bulls also have a 5-star maternal index.
Maternal
23 of the bulls have a 5-star replacement index; 20 of the bulls also have a 5-star terminal index.
Calving ease
4 bulls have a calving ease figure of 2.5% or less, which would be very suitable for both dairy and beef farmers.
A further 15 bulls have a calving ease figure of < 3.5%, which are also suitable for dairy and beef farmers.
A further 7 bulls have a calving ease figure of <4%, which is ~ the breed average.
Gestation
18 of the bulls have a gestation figure below the breed average. 8 of these bulls have gestation figures of 3 days less than average.
Docility
- 21 bulls have a 5-star docility index.
Carcass weight
- 36 of the bulls have 5-stars for carcass weight.
Sires represented at Limousin sale at Athenry Mart
There are 29 different sires represented in the 41 bulls on sale.
- 4X Keltic Handsome;
- 4X Plumtree Fantastic;
- 3X Bavardage;
- 2X Ampertaine Foreman;
- 2X Castleview Lawerencer;
- 2X Loyal;
- 2X Usse.
Each of the following sires one bull:
- Ampertaine Commander;
- Ampertaine Elgin;
- Cameos;
- Cloughhead Umpire;
- Derrygullinane Kingbull;
- Dromanig King;
- Edakkya;
- Excel;
- Favars;
- Galbally Klogan 1062;
- Galbally Liberal 1165;
- Goldies Jackpot;
- Lodge Hamlet;
- Meelickaduff Lamborghini;
- Mereside Godolphin;
- Raffertys Immanuel;
- Roundhill Saturn Et;
- Tomschoice Iceberg;
- Wilodge Cerberus;
- Wilodge Formulaone;
- Wilodge Goldcard;
- Woodview Gregory.
See the society’s Facebook page here to view some of the quality bulls that will be on offer in Athenry this Friday.
Health status
All bulls are vet inspected, fertility tested and sold under its fertility insurance scheme. All herds participating in CHeCS accredited herd health schemes.
Why you should choose a Limousin bull as your stock sire in 2021
Number 1 cross
This is the Limousin Society’s newest statistic and clearly shows that Limousin is the Number 1 cross on all the main breeds while 56% of calves born to Limousin mothers were Limousin sired.
| Breed | % females that had a Limousin sired calf |
| Belgian Blue | 45% |
| Blonde D’Aquitaine | 34% |
| Hereford | 32% |
| Simmental | 31% |
| Charolais | 28% |
| Angus | 28% |
| Aubrac | 19% |
The bulls on offer in Athenry are from many different sires so you have a great opportunity to source terminal, replacement, easy calving, or short gestation bulls, whatever suits your cows.
Terminal
The following table highlights Limousin is the number 1 beef sire across both beef and dairy cows.
| Breed | % calves registered to beef sires |
| LM | 26.24% |
| AA | 25.92% |
| CH | 19.75% |
| HE | 16.97% |
| SI | 4.72% |
| BB | 2.64% |
| SA | 1.12% |
| SH | 1.06% |
| AU | 1.04% |
| BA | 0.52% |
Maternal
Limousin is the number 1 Suckler dam, 35% (or over a third) of all suckler cows in Ireland are Limousin. The next highest breed is over 15% behind Limousin.
| Breed of dam | No of calves registered | % of calves registered |
| LM | 298,901 | 34.66% |
| CH | 168,188 | 19.51% |
| AA | 117,617 | 13.64% |
| SI | 89,953 | 10.43% |
| HE | 86,237 | 10.00% |
| BB | 38,063 | 4.41% |
| SH | 30,224 | 3.51% |
| SA | 19,897 | 2.31% |
| BA | 7,375 | 0.86% |
| AU | 5,807 | 0.67% |
Docility
The focus on breeding docile Limousin cattle over the last 30 years has totally changed the reputation of the breed for all to see.
Calving ease
One of the main reasons Limousin is the number 1 breed in Ireland is calving ease. With such a high percentage of farmers having off-farm jobs, the calving ease figure is one of the first questions farmers ask when purchasing a bull.
There are many bulls with predicted easy calving catalogued.
Gestation
With the huge growth in Limousin bulls being used in the dairy herd driven by the phenomenal prices Limousin suck calves are making, as well as the better kill-out of dairy-cross Limousin compared to other breeds, easy calving and, in particular, the reducing gestation length are contributing to this trend.
Limousin is far and away the continental breed of choice for the dairy farmer.
Total % of continental sired calves out of the dairy herd
| Breed | % sired calves X dairy |
| LM | 48.24% |
| BB | 16.34% |
| SI | 15.60% |
| CH | 11.04% |
| AU | 5.42% |
| SA | 2.60% |
| BA | 0.76% |
Farmers sometimes read about the top prices at the Limousin premier sales and may feel these bulls are outside their price range.
However, there are always a percentage of bulls that make between €2,100 and €2,500 and are considered bargains.
Further information
For more information about the Irish Limousin Cattle Society, see its website here.
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