Carnew Mart’s sheep sale on Thursday 18 March will include two clearance sales which are not often seen.

The first of these is an entry of 150 ewes with lambs at foot. The ewes are offered for sale by Sean O’Conner and Niamh Hennessey from Gowran in Kilkenny with the sale of the flock stemming from a switch to dairying.

Ewes are mainly Suffolk Cheviot crosses and are typical of the Borris-type ewe. The majority of ewes entered are hoggets and second- and third-crop ewes and these will be offered in batches of 10 with most lots averaging 1.7 lambs at foot.

Lambs are bred mainly from Suffolk rams and will be aged from three to five weeks of age on the sale date. The sale which is hosted by the LSL online sales platform starts at 12pm and sheep will be available for viewing at the mart from 10am on Thursday morning.

Also included on the day is another rare sale of 150 yearling Suffolk-cross hoggets due to lamb from 1 April and scanned with an average litter size of 1.5 lambs per ewe. The mart’s Eugene Clune reports that the hoggets are top-quality, weighing well in excess of 50kg and many lots weighing between 60kg and 70kg.