In a cattle sale the likes of which has never been seen in this country, 1,870 cattle were auctioned over three days at An Grianán Estate in Burt, Co Donegal.
The sale, which began last Thursday and ended on Saturday, comprised the sale of Glenmore Estate’s entire organic herd. The cattle were sold after the owners took the decision to leave the dairy sector and concentrate on growing energy crops for renewables.
The sale of the Friesian cattle, valued in excess of €1.5 million, was handled by specialist UK-based auctioneers Harrison and Hetherington Limited in conjunction with Ballybofey and Stranorlar Co-op Livestock Mart.
According to Johnathan Lucas of Ballybofey and Stranorlar Mart, this was the largest organic herd ever to come to auction in Europe and trade was brisk with prices ranging from €800 to €2,300. There were buyers from all over Ireland, as well as England, Germany and Holland. Lucas explained that the sheer demand for cattle saw 550 animals sold between 11am and 3pm on Thursday.
Livestock exporter Andrew Ewing, who is based in Scotland but comes originally from Omagh in Co Tyrone, described the sale as a great opportunity for buyers.
“Because there’s so many cattle you get all types to suit different budgets and need. Every client we have has a different budget. These are all pedigree animals and there’s a very good atmosphere,” said Mr Ewing, who exports beef and dairy cattle to 10 different countries.
Good genetics
Robert Butterfield, from Carnforth in North Lancashire in England said he was looking for cows with good genetics and good feet. “You need good locomotion with dairy cows. We’ve seen a good variety and there’s something for everybody here,” he said.
“I’ve bought 20 so far. Mine are middle range at about €1,000 each. It’s not typical to travel to a sale but this is the biggest I’ve ever seen. I’ve never left the country to get to a sale before,” said Mr Butterfield, whose third generation family farm has 600 acres and 350 cattle.
Thomas Colton from Omagh, Co Tyrone, said he was looking for freshly calved cows and was in the market for 15 or so for his 200-strong dairy farm. “I was here yesterday. This is a serious sale and they’re cheap,” he said.
Arthur Black, who used to work on the farm at An Grianán before the new owners took over, said he had come in to have a look to see what the trade was like and described the cattle as very good quality animals.
Over the course of the afternoon the Farming Independent spent at the sale on Friday, a number of auctioneers rotated to handle the sale with prices varying between €800 and €1,600.
Norman Witherow, a dairy farmer from Raphoe, said there was the potential for the herd to be a fabulous unit but said a lot of the stock were going to England and Northern Ireland.
Mr Witherow said he had never seen a sale on this scale and said he was buying back some of his own stock that had been acquired by the owners of Glenmore. He explained that his family spent a decade milking cows on the farm at An Grianán when they leased a portion of it but sold these cattle when the new owners came in.
“I’ll come back tomorrow - the prices are fairly good and there’s a whole range of cattle. The good cattle are making up to €2,000,” he said.
Heather Pritchard, pedigree sales and marketing manager with Harrison and Hetherington Auctioneers, told Farming Independent that they had seen a lot of interest from farmers in the UK as the dairy sector was going very well at the minute.
“You don’t get sales like this - it’s very rare. We’ve done two-day sales before but never over three days. Prices are very good and everything will be sold,” said Mr Pritchard.
David Beacon from Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, said he had bought five cattle at the sale for his own 140-strong herd and had spent about €5,000 on Friday afternoon.
An Grianán farm turns a new leaf to concentrate on renewables
The dispersal sale of cattle at An Grianán farm in Burt on the Inishowen Peninsula in Co Donegal marks the end of another chapter in the life of the farm.
With 1,870 animals auctioned in a three-day sale which concluded on Saturday, the owners of the country’s largest organic herd will now concentrate on renewables for the energy sector.
In 2017 Finn Valley businessman, Karol McElhinney of Glenmore Estates, purchased An Grianán farm in Burt for more than €17 million. Earlier this year Glenmore signalled its intention to focus solely on growing renewable energy crops.
This led to the sale of Glenmore’s herd of cattle by specialist livestock auction company, Harrison and Hetherington, based in Carlisle in the UK.
The farm was bought by Mr McElhinney for €17.4 million in 2017. The total estate stands at 2,400 acres, some 1,290 acres of which are designated as organic.
In August of 2018, Mr McElhinney announced that Glenmore Estates would be undertaking a redevelopment of the farmyard area of the estate, involving the removal of old infrastructure and construction of a state-of-the-art robotic dairy farm enterprise.
At the time Glenmore said it intended to continue farming the estate’s 1,290ac of land organically and said that robotisation would “sustainably increase production” from its dairy business.
The company added that it would continue to work with the National Parks and Wildlife Service to ensure environmental protection of the Lough Swilly special protection area overlapping the farm. The farmyard’s redevelopment is in addition to extensive land improvement works undertaken at the farm.
An Grianán hit the headlines in 1996 when the Graham family were the subject of a very public eviction from the property.
The controversial action was taken by National Irish Bank after the family failed to meet repayments on a loan taken out for the purchase of the lands.
It was at this time that the estate was purchased by Donegal Creameries. Much of the land was then leased to local tillage farmers and one organic dairy farmer.
It was subsequently sold by Donegal Investment Group, formerly Donegal Creameries, to Glenmore Estate.
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