Ballymahon Mart - Tuesday Weanling Sale

What to Expect

Tuesday is weanling day at Ballymahon Mart, the separate weekly sale for younger store-type cattle coming off suckler farms across south Longford and over the Westmeath border. Selling starts at 11am, and the day runs to a different rhythm from the Thursday cattle sale: the stock is lighter, the buyers are largely finishers and exporters looking for animals to bring on, and the trade is watched closely as a guide to what the autumn weanling season will bring.

Cattle are penned from early in the morning so buyers can walk the yard and judge conformation before anything enters the ring. The auctioneer then works through the entry lot by lot. Numbers swing hard with the season here, quiet through midsummer and then climbing sharply from late August as suckler farmers begin selling the spring calves, with the peak weanling sales usually falling in September and October. That makes the autumn Tuesdays the ones worth turning up for if you want to see the mart at full tilt. The canteen runs through the morning between viewing and selling, and the yard has its own loading bays for hauliers taking stock away once the ring closes.

Good to Know

• Date: Tuesday 18 August 2026, and every Tuesday after that
• Time: selling starts at 11am
• Venue: Ballymahon Mart, Mostrim Road, Ballymahon, Co. Longford
• Price: free to attend as a spectator; registered buyers and sellers trade through the ring
• Recurrence: weekly, every Tuesday for weanlings, with general cattle sold separately on Thursdays at 11am
• Mart office: 090 643 2327
• Autumn special weanling sales are usually advertised separately, so ring ahead before travelling

Getting There

Ballymahon Mart is on the Mostrim Road on the edge of Ballymahon, a short drive from Main Street, with its own yard for jeeps, trailers and livestock lorries. Ballymahon lies on the R392 roughly midway between Athlone and Longford town and is also reached off the N55. Coming from the M6, exit for Athlone and head north; from the N4, turn south at Longford or Edgeworthstown. There is no practical bus for an 11am sale, so plan on driving. If you are travelling from further afield, Center Parcs Longford Forest and the town’s guesthouses sit within a couple of minutes of the mart. There is more to see across County Longford.