The number of specialist breeding ewe hogget and ewe lamb sales will reach peak activity over the weekend.

Mules dominate the sales diary with four sales offering Mule sheep taking place on Friday and Saturday.

The first of these takes place on Friday 31 August at 6pm with the recently formed Donegal Mule Group holding their third sale in Ballybofey and Stranorlar Mart, Co Donegal.

The entry of 1,500 head will be on show from 4pm with hoggets first under the hammer.

Further down the west coast, the North West Mule Breeders will hold their sixth annual sale in Coolaney Mart, Co Sligo on Saturday 1 September at 12pm.

The sale, comprising 650 ewe lambs and hoggets, is encouraging more dry hogget producers to join their group and lift numbers the following year by offering free membership to buyers who purchase ewe lambs and present hoggets in 2019. Group member Seamus Connolly says: “The sale is not a traditional show with judging, instead prize money is awarded to the buyers of the five highest-priced lots of lambs and so the buyers are the true judge of the stock.”

The South East Mule Breeders Group show and sale of 520 ewe lambs and 600 ewe hoggets and ewes takes place on the same day commencing at 12.30pm in Tullow Mart, Co Carlow.

The group says all sheep are vetted for suitability. Later in the week, the mart is holding a clearance sale of 700 prolific ewes on Wednesday 5 September.

Unique sale

The final sale offering Mules is the Cooley Sheep Breeders Association annual show and sale which also takes place on Saturday 1 September at 10.30am.

Mules are one of a number of breeds with the 2,000 head entry split among Lleyn, Suffolk, Cheviot, Texel, their crosses and Scottish Blackface.

The unique sale takes place with members constructing temporary penning and a sales ring in Greenore Road, Carlingford and will this year be handled by Jimmy Reilly, Cootehill Mart.

Other sales on Saturday include the Lleyn breeding sale in Roscommon Mart at 1pm with an entry in excess of 650 females along with an entry of rams.

Meanwhile, the Ryan and Donohoe ram and ewe sale takes place in Blessington Mart, Wicklow. Also starting at 1pm, the sale includes 100 Texel cross ewes, all of which have been vaccinated with Heptavac P, Enzovax and Toxovax.