Hogget prices have hardened this week, fuelling a slight increase on last week. Prices have increased by 10c/kg with the general trade for hoggets ranging from €6/kg to €6.15/kg. Quality is very much influencing the price.

Reports of thin and under-fleshed hoggets are common this week. Plainer quality animals are selling back to €5.80/kg in some cases where hoggets are struggling to meet fat class 3.

With the shorter kill week, some meat plants managed to forward buy hoggets last Thursday for killing on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Deals were made at €6/kg. Plants are quoting €5.60/kg for today (Thursday). Sources indicate plants are becoming very anxious for numbers next week again, with agents for one plant in the midlands concentrating solely on hoggets rather than spring lamb.

Spring lamb quotes are €6.20/kg but very few lambs are moving at this price. Plants are paying €6.40/kg to €6.50/kg to individual sellers and lamb groups. Again, quality is determining the price paid. There are reports that some plants have offered payment on spring lamb this week to 20.5kg in an effort to increase throughput. But the move has been in vain as numbers are simply not there.

With plants commenting on heavy, meal-fed lambs killing out at 47% to 50%, many producers are opting to have their lambs killed as hoggets to avail of the higher carcase limit of 23.5kg to 24kg, depending on which processors they are dealing with. A 20kg lamb paid at €6.50/kg has a net value of €130 whereas a 23.5kg hogget paid at €6.10/kg is worth €143.

The fact that hogget prices are running 50c to 60c ahead of the same week last year shows how short of sheep the processors are. By now, hogget prices should be on a downward trend as spring lambs takeover. That being said, producers should still be offloading hoggets once they are fit for slaughter, as there is no benefit in holding sheep once they are factory fit.

The trend of killing ewe lambs that were originally kept as replacements continues. With these animals killing into €135 to €145 per head, producers are replacing them with mature ewes with lambs at foot.

IFA National Sheep Committee chairman John Lynskey said that the market has returned to normal trading conditions after the Easter break. He added that, with lower throughput at the marts this week, factories have been forced into increasing prices to all producer types.

In Northern Ireland, hogget quotes increased by 10p/kg (12c) at Dunbia to £4.60/kg (€5.90/kg including VAT) with prices paid running another 10p/kg ahead. Spring lamb quotes have held at £5/kg (€6.40/kg including VAT). Prices paid for spring lambs are running 10p to 20p/kg ahead of factory quotes.