A total of 80 animals – including 64 bulls and 16 females – have been entered for next week’s Limousin Spring Show and Sale at Ballymena Livestock Market.

The event will take place on Monday, May 7, 2018. The show starts at 10:00am and will be judged by Aberdeenshire’s Blair Duffton, with the sale following immediately after.

The reserve for females is 800gns and 1,800gns for bulls.

Fortnight of sales

It’s part of a “bumper” fortnight of sales for the British Limousin Cattle Society, with a two-day fixture at Carlisle on May 4-5, Stirling and Ballymena on Monday, May 7, and Brecon Market on Saturday, May 12.

The four sale venues will see a total of 539 pedigree Limousins – bulls and females – catalogued for sale.

It comes just after a buoyant Limousin sale at Newark, led by a 6,000gns call for Absolute Justesse; a 2014-born Diamante daughter from Richard Bartle and Mary Cormack, Hereford.

Justesse (pictured above) – sold with her Dinmore Lionheart sired seven-month-old heifer calf at foot – was bought by H.D. and P.J. Cranfield, Lincolnshire.

All budgets

A spokeswoman for the society said demand for “easy-calving” genetics had made the breed popular with commercial producers, but added that good value could still be found.

While the high-end of trade at premier sales will always deliver some fantastic prices, the largest proportion of cattle are knocked down at prices that are very attractive to commercial buyers.

“With breeders across Northern Ireland continuing to bring forward top quality bulls and females, the advantages of market-ready genetics means that commercial producers can invest in the breed with a degree of confidence.

“The sale at Ballymena offers a terrific choice of bulls and females for both commercial producers and pedigree breeders – with all levels of budgets offering both quality and real value,” she said.

The catalogue is available to view on the new ‘LimSale’ app or online at: www.limousin.co.uk.