Loughrea Mart manager Jimmy Cooney reports that last Thursday’s sheep sale witnessed the best trade for quite some time.

This batch of Chrollais-cross lambs weighing 46kg sold for €114 (€2.48/kg).

A top price of €130 was recorded on a number of occasions. Jimmy explains the price was not just a flash in the pan, with a significant number of batches of fleshed, well-conformed lambs weighing upwards of 50kg selling from €125 to €130.

This batch of 11 good-quality Charollais and Suffolk-cross lambs averaging 55.7kg liveweight sold for €130 (€2.33/kg).

The trade for these lambs was underpinned by increased demand from butcher and wholesale buyers starting to source lambs for the Christmas trade and competing with factory agents, who have also been armed with greater negotiating power in recent weeks.

Agents had been focused on lighter lambs for much of the autumn, but Jimmy says a scarcity of good-quality lambs is resulting in competition for all fleshed lambs, irrespective of weight.

These 10 fleshed Charollais and Suffolk-cross lambs weighing 53kg sold for €129 (€2.43/kg).

For example, a number of pens of fleshed lambs with good kill-out potential and weighing 46kg to 47kg hit top returns of €117 to €119, with buyers also looking to get their hands on lambs to hold over for feeding into increased supplies in the coming weeks.

This batch of 11 Suffolk wether lambs weighing 47kg sold for €116 (€2.47/kg).

There is a differential in price for similar-weight lambs of €3 to €5 per head, with the general run of lambs weighing upwards of 50kg selling from €120 to €124.

Lambs weighing 48kg to 50kg sold from €117 to €121 on average, while short-keep store lambs weighing 43kg to 46kg sold from €106 upwards for mixed-quality lots to €114 to €116 for top-quality forward stores already possessing a nice cover of flesh.

This batch of nine Charollais-cross lambs weighing 45.6kg sold for €115 (€2.52/kg).

Jimmy says the lift in the trade had helped throughput, with entries significantly higher than three to four weeks ago.

This is being driven in cases by farmers with low numbers on hand or farmers who purchased lambs to graze off surplus grass and have low negotiating power taking advantage of the firm competition in live sales.

These nice-quality Charollais store lambs weighing 44.2kg sold for €113 (€2.56/kg).

The cull ewe trade has also improved in recent weeks, with a sharper trade evident in last Thursday’s sale.

Large-framed lowland ewes sold on average from €105 to €120, with a few pens of heavy carcase ewes exceeding 40kg carcase weight reaching €120 and hitting a top of €123 per head.

This pen of 10 mixed-quality Charollais and Suffoll lambs weighing 43.8kg sold for €108 (€2.47/kg).

The vibrant trade for store lambs has encouraged some farmers to opt for purchasing ewes, with lowland feeding ewes selling from €85 to €100 per head.