They came from all corners to this one. The small but dedicated brigade of ICSA members in Camolin, Co Wexford, on Monday were in fairly militant mood.

The blockade at the gates of the Irish Country Meats sheep slaughter plant was a no-warning affair. Nothing was to get in or out.

As car after car arrived requesting access, each seemed to contain a vet whose presence was a legal requirement on-site. Frustration was growing.

“That’s it, no one else gets in,” one proclaimed.

The 50c/kg price drop in the first half of May hammered margins for sheep farmers a month before the inevitable price fall was expected. The anger was palpable and, for once, Brexit could not be blamed. “Sure a hard border will mean no northern or Scottish lamb”, as one farmer put it.

“If cattle prices are going down, lambs should be rising.”

Some of the farmers who had come to deliver lambs to the plant were totally supportive, others less so.

The queue stretched back for a couple of hundred yards by mid-morning. Breakfast rolls and water bottles were procured and devoured. Local ICSA stalwart Frank Kehoe arrived after noon with Brunch ice creams to cool the temperatures.

They were needed as workers arrived at the gates wanting to go home. It was 1pm and they felt this was not their quarrel. The picket was not to be stirred. They would be gone at 2pm; everyone had to wait.

One vet said: “This is my livelihood.”

“What do you think we are doing here, 100 miles from home?” came the reply. “Our livelihoods are being wiped out.”

ICM issued a response to the letter handed in at that point. It said that it was “always happy to meet with any farmer representative organisations, but not while our business is under disruption”.

The farmers kept their word and left at 2pm.

Talks are now planned but don’t bet against protesting farmers returning to these or other gates.

What they said

Pat Joyce, Co Westmeath

“We’re looking for €7/kg for our lambs. It’s the absolute minimum we should be getting when you think of the price of meal and fertiliser, which keeps going up.

“We also want to be paid for every kilo of meat we deliver. The 20kg cut-off is not acceptable. It’s time for ICM to stop exploiting the sheep farmer, or we’ll all be gone. What are they going to do for lambs then?”

Laurence McManus, Co Donegal

Laurence McManus, who left his home in Pettigo, Co Donegal, at 2am to travel 300km to ICM Camolin for the ICSA protest over sheep prices.

“I came from Pettigo today, a distance of 300km. Myself and my son Johnny are suckler and sheep farmers. My son and I send lambs to here or Pettigo. I left at 2am.

“There’s no excuse at all for price cuts – we should be getting €7/kg. It’s just business.

“I’d like to bring this to the streets of Dublin some Friday afternoon. The housewife has no idea of the price we are getting for lambs compared to the price she is paying. It’s a disgrace.”

Sean McNamara, ICSA sheep chair

“There are farmers here from Cavan, from Galway, Leitrim and Donegal. We’re here because the factories have cut the price of every lamb by €10/11 in a single week, and we’re back around €35/head on last year.

“Farmers have no power in selling their lambs, with so few outlets. There’s one particular player that thinks they can do what they want. For a man with 300 lambs, he’s down €10,800 on last year. That’s a lot of the income gone.”