Mountbellew Mart’s weekly sheep sale on Saturday witnessed a number of farmers looking to source ewe hoggets suitable for breeding.

Three batches of nice-quality heavy hoggets weighing 56kg to 58kg topped the €250 mark, selling to a top of €262.

Another couple of suitable batches sold from €226 to €242.

Trade for heavy wether or ewe hoggets not suitable for breeding was sluggish, with hoggets weighing from 50kg to 60kg in the main selling from €145 to €160, with a few tail-end lots weighing 41kg to 44kg selling from €110 to €118.

There was a strong entry of good-quality ram lambs, with some heavy lots weighing upwards of 55kg on offer.

Trends

The general trend for lowland lambs weighing 50kg to 57kg ranged from €192 to €200, with a handful above this range to a top of €220/head.

Plainer-quality lambs sold back to €185, while whose weighing 44kg to 47kg sold from €180 to €185 and from €170 to €178 for fleshed 40kg to 43kg lots.

Cull ewes were sharp, with several lots weighing from 100kg to 107kg selling from €282 to €296, while ewes weighing 90kg to 98kg sold from €252 to €272.

Lighter, fleshed ewes weighing 70kg to 78kg sold from €150 to €188.

No sale takes place next Saturday due to Shearfest - combining the European and Connacht sheep shearing and wool handling championships and Martbeat, a three-night country and music open-air concerts (see shearfest.ie).

In pictures

These two pens of Charollais-cross lambs weighing 46kg sold for €179 each (€3.89/kg).

Weighing 43kg, these ewe lambs sold for €177 each (€4.12/kg).

These good-quality ram lambs weighing 49.7kg were bid to €197 but unsold.

These five wether hoggets weighing 57kg sold for €140 each (€2.46/kg).

These lighter ram lambs weighing 43.5kg sold for €183 each (€4.21/kg).

These ram lambs weighing 51.7kg sold for €200 each (€3.87/kg).

Weighing 51.5kg, these Charollais-cross and Texel-cross ram lambs sold for €192 each (€3.73/kg).

This pen of well-fleshed wether and ewe lambs averaging 42.5kg sold for €170 each (€4/kg).

This pen of ram lambs weighing 52.2kg sold for €202 each (€3.87/kg).

These ram lambs weighing 55.9kg sold for €200 each (€3.58/kg).

This batch of four heavy hoggets and one ram lamb weighing 69.5kg sold for €153 each (€2.20/kg).

The ewes on left weighing 88kg sold for €192 each (€2.18/kg) while the pair of ewes averaging 72kg sold for €172 each (€2.39/kg).

These 78.8kg ewes with an average cover of flesh sold for €150 (€1.90/kg).

Two ewes on left weighing 107.5kg sold for €296 (€2.75/kg) while the 79kg ewes on right sold for €206 (€2.61/kg).

These four large-framed heavy ewes weighing 100kg sold for €288 (€2.88/kg).

The ewes on right weighing 92kg and ewes on right weighing 98kg sold for €240 (€2.61/kg).