The in-lamb ewe trade got off to a great start in Roscommon mart on Wednesday with a special clearance sale of 110 in-lamb ewes.

According to mart manager Maura Quigley there was a big demand on the day with a full clearance and plenty of buyers in attendance. In-lamb ewes are in good demand after a positive year for sheep farmers with strong lamb prices and exceptional grass growth that helped finish lambs with less bought-in feed compared to previous years. The ewes were mostly two- and three-year-olds and there was one pen of hoggets. The average price paid for in-lamb ewes was €183/head. Prices ranged from €139/head to €200/head.

The 110 Suffock cross breeding ewes were first, second and third crops. All were scanned in-lamb to purebred Charollais and Suffock rams and are due to start lambing from the end of January onwards. Scanning results showed 80 ewes were carrying twins, 16 singles and 14 triplets. The sheep were sold with different litter sizes mixed into pens. Ewes were reported to be in very good condition.

One pen of five ewes made €200/head; three of these ewes were carrying twins, there was one triplet and one single. A pen of eight ewes made up of eight twins, one triplet and one single made €196/head. Another pen of six ewes consisting of four twin-bearing ewes, one triplet and one single made €197/head.

There was one pen of 10 hoggets that sold for €174/head. They were in-lamb to a purebred Charollais ram and eight were carrying twins while two were carrying singles.

Lambs were also a very strong trade in Roscommon on Wednesday mainly due to factories and butchers trying to stock up before Christmas. One pen of wethers weighing 52.5kg made €119, a pen of 55.6kg ewe lambs made €121, 46kg wether and ewe lambs made €110 and a pen of ram lambs made €117. Maura said cull ewes seem to be getting scarcer as a lot of ewes came fit to market earlier this year, prices in Roscommon ranged from €50 to €125 depending on flesh cover and there was a full clearance of all lots.