Mountbellew Mart in county Galway witnessed a much improved trade for cull ewes in their weekly sheep sale on Saturday. Prices were stronger to the tune of 10c/kg to 15c/kg with a sharper trade for heavier fleshed ewes with demand helped by a relatively small entry of about 130 ewes.
Top prices ranged from €228 to €260 for four lots of ewes weighing from 95kg to 114kg or a price per kilo range from €2.28/kg to €2.40/kg. Well-fleshed and good-quality ewes ranging from 81kg to 85kg recorded a higher price per kilo average with prices ranging from €2.35/kg to €2.48/kg or from €190 to €208 per head.
Lesser-quality ewes with an average cover of flesh and weighing from 80kg to 84kg sold from €2/kg to €2.10/kg while crossbred and light carcase ewes weighing from 60kg to 70kg and short on flesh cover sold from €1.40/kg to €1.70/kg.
Lamb trade
The trade for lambs was broadly steady on the previous week with prices for heavier lambs likely to avail of the extra carcase weight allowance possibly firmer to the tune of €1 to €3 per head. The general run of prices for fleshed lambs weighing from 50kg to 54kg ranged from €172 to €175 per head with a few batches rising to €177 for heavier and butcher-type lambs while a couple of lots of heavy ewe lambs sold to a top of €200 and €207 per head with the latter paid for quality Suffolk ewe lambs weighing 49kg.
Lambs weighing around the 48kg to 49kg mark sold from €168 to €172 with some lesser-quality lots back to €162 per head. There was good demand for medium weight lambs with a good cover of flesh with fleshed lots weighing from 44kg to 46kg selling from €148 to €152 per head and a shade higher for ewe lambs. Lots with a lower cover of flesh sold back to €144 per head while store lambs weighing 40kg to 42kg sold from €130 to €140 depending on flesh cover and quality or from €3.05/kg to €3.40/kg.
The trade for lighter lambs was strongly influenced by quality. Lambs weighing from 30kg to 33kg sold in the main from €3/kg to €3.15/kg with a few lots of ewe lambs to €3.30/kg and likewise a few lots of horned crossbred and lesser-quality types back to €2.65/kg to €2.90/kg.
