Carnew Mart in Co Wicklow had a larger than anticipated entry of breeding ewes and hoggets in Thursday’s sale with about 300 head on offer.

Manager David Quinn said the trade was positive with plenty of customers active. Heaver and sharper-type hoggets sold from €300 to €335 with nice-quality mid-weight lots selling from €270 to €300 and some lighter pens selling from €200 to €240.

David said the trade for heavy butcher- and- wholesale-type lambs was every bit as strong as last week and maybe a euro to €2/head better.

He reported that lambs weighing 48kg upwards sold from €197 to a top of €258/head, with the majority of sheep weighing in excess of 50kg selling from €205 to €220/head.

Factory weight lambs weighing from 44kg to 48kg sold in the main from €175 to €202 while lambs weighing 40kg to 44kg from €145 to €177.

There was good interest in a much larger entry of store lambs and batches weighing from 35kg to 39kg sold from €132 to €158/head with lighter stores under 35kg selling from €90 for very light lambs to as high as €140/head for well-presented lambs.

David highlighted an entry of quality speckle-faced ewe lambs weighing around the 40kg mark selling for €200/head with other lots selling from €4/kg to upwards of €4.50/kg.

A big entry of cull ewes saw heavier ewes selling from €240 to €290/head with medium-weight ewes selling from €170 to €230 and lighter, thinner ewes selling from €115 to €160/head.