Good numbers of sheep presented for sale were recorded in Tuam this week, with 170 ewes and 560 lambs going under the hammer. Ewe numbers were bolstered by 40 fleshed lots from one farmer.

Store lambs below 40kg sold in the main from €3.30/kg to €3.55/kg, with only a small number of lambs below this.

Several lots of Suffolk and Texel ewe lambs with breeding potential as hoggetts saw a premium, with this reaching €3.65/kg and higher.

Store lambs between 40kg and 45kg were small in number, but sold for €105 to €110 with their weight or generally around €3.20/kg to €3.35/kg, up to €3.63/kg for ewe lambs.

A nice show of finished lambs with plenty of flesh were on offer. Lambs from 45kg to 50kg sold between €3.30/kg to €3.40/kg in the main, with nice-quality ewe lambs suitable for retaining selling up to €3.67/kg.

Heavy lambs

Heavy lambs between 50kg and 54kg saw sharp demand and sold from €170 to €175/head, with some lots above this weight selling up to €184/head, with a premium paid again for select ewe lambs

Cull ewes were a firm trade, with good-quality fleshed lots selling for €2/kg and above regularly, with highs of €2.39/kg for forward store ewes with an ability to kill into high carcases.

In pictures

Ten ewe lambs on the left weighing 45kg sold for €165 (€3.67/kg), while four ewe lambs on the right weighing 39kg sold for €142 (€3.64/kg).

The lambs on the left weighed 43kg and sold for €144/head (€3.37/kg), with the ones on the right weighing 54.7kg selling for €175 (€3.20/kg).

This pen of ewe lambs weighing 56.6kg sold for €180/head (€3.18/kg).

This pen of cull ewes weighing 81.6kg sold for €175/head (€2.14/kg).

This pen of cull ewes weighing 92kg sold for €199/head (€2.16/kg).