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Breeding sheep sales continue to report record prices as buying confidence remains exceptionally strong.
Earlier this week, the annual ewe lamb sale in Armoy mart recorded its highest ever prices with 3,409 animals on offer.
Top price of £270 was paid for a pen of 12 Suffolk Cheviots, up £35 on last year. Multiple pens sold above £200 with a big run making £170 to £190.
Mule lambs were sold to a top price of £260, an increase of £85 year on year, while Wicklow Cheviot lambs peaked at £220.
Torr Sale
On Saturday, Armoy also hosted the annual Torr sheep sale. Prices peaked at £248 for a pen of 10 Mule ewe lambs, up £58 from last year’s sale topping £190 and £130 in 2019.
Three pens of Mule ewe lambs crossed the £240 mark with a large run of prices from £235 to £200.
Suffolk Cheviott ewe lambs topped out at £205, up £15 on last year with the main run selling from £135 to £190. A large entry of store lambs sold to £97.50.
Rams
The multi-breed Kempston ram sale in Ballymena Mart on Friday saw a top price of £880 paid for a Suffolk. On the same day, the North Country Cheviot sale held at Beattie’s Pedigree Centre, Omagh, saw rams sold to a record 1,800gns. Twenty rams averaged 848gns with eight lots sold for over 1,000gns.
On Monday, rams at the NI Charollais Sheep sale at Ballymena peaked at 680gns, and at the Irish Beltex Sheep Breeders Club show and sale at Dungannon Mart, Kinawley-based Matthew Burleigh received the top price of 1,550gns for his shearling ewe, Matt’s Fanciful.
Other top prices included 1,300gns for Lagyveagh Fonzo, a shearling ram from Hugh and Eddie O’Neill’s Glenarm-based Lagyveagh Flock.
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