A Monaghan farm family's first attempt at running its own premium cattle sale has ended with every animal sold. McEnaney Livestock, based in Corvally, Co Monaghan, put 112 heifers through the ring at Elphin Co-Operative Livestock Mart in Co Roscommon on Saturday 17 October, and the mart reported a full clearance.
The sale, called the 'Corvalley Classy Lassies', was the first of its kind for the McEnaney farm. Mart manager Ciaran Lynch told Agriland afterwards that the top price of €13,500 was reached twice, once for a maiden heifer and once for an in-calf heifer, and that the average price settled at just under €6,000.
The top lots
The first to hit €13,500 was Lot 25, a Limousin-cross maiden heifer born in February 2025 and sired by Jaegerbomb. Lot 109 matched it later in the sale. She is a Limousin-cross born in January 2024, sired by Trueman Idol and sold in-calf to Loyal, carrying a sexed female AI straw, with a calf due in February 2027. As a calf she was shown at the Tullamore Show and the FBD National Livestock Show, and won the Kepak Beef Animal of the Future class in 2024.
Other strong prices included €10,200 for Lot 144, an in-calf heifer sired by Ballinclare Jackpot, €9,500 for Lot 116, €9,100 for Lot 15, a Belgian Blue-cross maiden heifer by Ronaldo, and €8,800 for Lot 101, an in-calf heifer by Kilcor Seamus.
Buyers from Donegal to Cork, and across the border
According to the mart manager, bidders came from all over the Republic and from Northern Ireland. Thirty of the heifers were bought by customers in the North, and the rest went to farms in counties from Donegal to Cork. The sale was supported by the Carlisle-based auctioneers Harrison & Hetherington, whose listing noted that all the animals were export tested, with export available through Elphin and haulage on offer to Borderway Mart in Britain. Online bidding ran through MartBids.
How the sale came about
In the run-up to the sale, Gavin McEnaney told the Irish Farmers Journal that the family had hand-picked the heifers at sales around Ireland over the previous two years, and had put careful thought into which easy-calving bulls were used. Pre-sale listings described the offering as 45 spring-calving in-calf heifers and 68 maiden heifers, all of the maidens scanned correct for breeding. Speaking in a sponsored Agriland preview, he said the farm had spent four to five years building "a strong herd of cattle", and was moving into the show cattle business, including embryo work.
One of the heifers he picked out before the day was a Belgian Blue-cross that had been overall champion at the Castleblayney show.
After the sale, Mr McEnaney thanked everyone who had supported it and helped in the build-up, and wished the buyers luck. "We are delighted with how the sale went and, after the success of the inaugural event, we are confident the Corvalley Classy Lassies sale will be returning again," he said.
No date for a second sale has been announced.
