The mart trade is holding steady, with solid factory demand for finished lambs. Fleshed lambs in the 47kg to 55kg weight category are trading from €55 to €65 over or from €105 to €114 per head.

Small selections of butcher or wholesale lambs are selling from €114 to €118 per head for lambs weighing 50+kg.

There is continued demand for good-quality ewe lambs with a price premium of €5 to €10 per head over equivalent weight store and finished lambs.

Where numbers are tight, factory agents remain active for lighter lambs down to 44kg, as long as they are adequately fleshed.

Short-keep stores weighing 40kg to 45kg are selling from €2/kg to €2.20/kg for well-fleshed lots, with managers reporting numbers entered and buyer demand easing.

Lighter or plainer quality types are selling back to €1.80/kg, with lesser-quality crossbred and horned lambs selling back to €1.60/kg.

Cull ewe entries are small. Factory agents are very active and in some cases, dealers are purchasing short-keep ewes in a bid to build supplies for the coming weeks.

Fleshed, heavy-carcase ewes are selling from €90 to €110 per head, with a top of €120 paid for top-quality ewes.

Feeding ewes with good size and average flesh cover are selling from €70 to €90 per head. Slaughter-fit light carcase and crossbred ewes are selling from €55 to €70 per head, with broken mouth aged hill ewes lacking flesh selling from €30 to €40.