Tuesday’s sheep sale at Tullow Mart got off to a strong start, with noticeably more demand for farmers and agents.

This pen of 50kg lambs sold for €118 each (€2.36/kg).

Mart manager Eric Driver said that the sale was a sizable one for the first sale back. He added that it was a good, honest and transparent trade, which left sellers happy.

This pen of cast ewes weighing 67kg on average sold for €96 each (€1.43/kg).

In terms of prices, they were up by about €5 to €6/head on the last sale of 2019, with heavy butchers’ lambs over 50kg selling to a top of €125/head.

This pen of thin cull ewes weighing 50kg on average sold for €56 each (€1.12/kg).

Eric said that the price increase was needed and welcomed, and at this level it is quite sustainable.

This pen of ewes weighing 66kg on average sold for €97 each (€1.47/kg).

In terms of factory lambs, the majority of well-fleshed lambs from 47kg to 49kg sold from €114 to €118/head.

This pen of cull ewes weighing 62kg on average sold for €97 each (€1.56/kg).

However, he added that lambs lacking flesh in the same weight range sold from €108 to €109/head.

This pen of cull ewes weighing 60kg on average sold for €89 each (€1.48/kg).

Heavy store lambs saw a nice lift in prices also, with those from 37kg to 41kg selling from €100 to €106/head. Lighter store hoggets were making around the €80/head mark.

This pen of crossbred store lambs weighing 36kg sold for €91 (€2.53/kg).

Eric added that there was an unbelievable trade for cull ewes. At the top of the market, heavy ewes sold for up to €138 for 96kg.

This heavy fleshed Suffolk ewe weighing 95kg sold for €131 (€1.38/kg).

The majority of 60kg feeding ewes made around €94 to €95/head. Smaller-framed ewes weighing 60kg sold for around €80/head.