Blessington Mart hosted its weekly sheep sale on Tuesday, with strong demand reported across the sections.

Speaking after the sale, mart manager John Doyle said: “There was very strong trade for all types of spring lambs. Cast ewes and fat hoggets remain similar to last week, with nearly a full clearance.”

This lot of nine Texel spring lambs had an average weight of 44kg and sold for €157/head.

As mentioned by John, strongest trade was for spring lambs, which sold up to €169/head. These started at €138/head, with the general go for average lambs hitting in or around that €150/head mark.

This is up €5 on the previous week, with better-quality stock up in the region of €9.

These five Texel spring lambs had an average weight of 48kg and sold for €163/head.

Fit hoggets came into a similar trade, with prices starting at €140 and moving up to €168 for heavier lots. This price is much the same as last week, with lots selling for €100 to €116 over the €/kg.

This pen of 14 Suffolk-cross hogget ewes had an average weight of 53kg and sold for €168/head.

Heavy ewes were plentiful and met with a good demand throughout, selling from €132 to €162. Lighter ewes found it harder to get up the money, with prices starting at €88 per head and rising to €126.

This hogget Suffolk ewe with lamb at foot weighed 76kg and sold for €220.

There was a number of ewes with single lambs at foot on offer. These started at €160/head for older ewes, but the young ewes or hogget ewes with good-quality lambs at foot sold up to €300/head.

This lot of five Charollais ewes with single lambs at foot sold for €280.