The sheep trade has exploded into life since the end of last week.

Factory agents increased base quotes by 10c/kg on Friday, leaving base quotes ranging from €6.60/kg to €6.80/kg and top prices hitting €7/kg to €7.10/kg for lambs slaughtered on Monday.

However, this was shortlived, with supplies coming on stream being extremely tight and forcing factories to move quotes up by another 10c/kg on Monday.

Base quotes as of Monday evening for Tuesday and Wednesday’s kill range from €6.90/kg back to €6.75/kg.

Producer groups and specialist finishers handling large numbers are securing returns at the top of the market of €7.15/kg to €7.25/kg for Tuesday and Wednesday, with prices confined to 22.5kg carcase weight.

Sellers with lower negotiating power are trading from €6.85/kg to €7/kg, with more sellers realising there is a greater appetite for sheep and setting their stall out and pushing for the higher prices.

Attractive alternative

The mart trade has also followed suit, with numbers of slaughter-fit lambs dwindling and the trade creating an attractive alternative outlet for farmers struggling to deal directly with factories.

Quality is also becoming more variable, with mart managers reporting that there are some lambs showing up at slaughter weight, but with a poor flesh cover.

This is leading to a price differential of €6 to €8 per head and greater in cases between lambs of a similar weight.

Mart round-up

Kilkenny Mart auctioneer George Candler said prices in Monday’s sale improved to the tune of €2 to €7 per head, with a top call of €164 paid on two occasions for super-quality butcher lambs weighing 55kg.

A couple of other pens weighing 55kg to 58kg hit and exceeded the €160 mark, while butcher-type lambs weighing 49kg to 50kg sold from €150 to €155.

Lambs weighing 47kg to 48kg sold from the mid- to high-€140s, while sample prices for lighter lots weighing 43kg to 45kg were reported from €128 to €136.

Fermoy Mart

It was a similar trend in Fermoy Mart, with a top call of €166 for top-quality Charollais lambs weighing 55kg.

Fleshed lots weighing 50kg to 51kg sold in general from €151 to €158 per head or in the region of €2.98/kg to €3.05/kg.

Top prices for lambs weighing 47kg to 48kg ranged from €144 to €152, with a top of €3.13/kg paid for 48kg lambs.

Lighter lambs were in tight supply, with only a handful of light store lambs on offer. Those weighing 36kg to 37kg are listed as selling from €101 to €106.

Ennis Mart

Meanwhile, in Ennis Mart, a pen of 54kg Beltex-type wether lambs attracted strong butcher bidding, with the hammer eventually falling at a price of €167 per head, while the pick of prices on the day was €165 paid for 50kg Charollais wether lambs.

The general run of prices for 50kg to 54kg lambs ranged from €150 to €158, depending on the level of flesh cover, with lambs weighing 47kg to 49kg selling from €145 to €152 on average, with prices again dictated by flesh cover.

Supplies of fleshed lambs were described as tight by manager Martin McNamara, who said Monday’s entry contained a higher number of store sheep, with this also inserting much more life into the trade for finished lambs.