In-lamb ewes sold to £172/head for a pen of twin-bearing Texel cross animals at a special sale of 250 sheep for Simon Loughery, Limavady, at Ballymena Mart on Monday evening.

The sale has become an annual event, with this year’s top-selling pen up from the peak of £165 paid for Mule ewes last year.

All ewes forwarded for sale were a combination of two-, three- and four-year-old animals, vaccinated with Heptavac P, and scanned in-lamb to Texel rams with an estimated due date from 1 March.

Mule ewes sold to a peak of £170 for a pen of 10 ewes carrying 21 lambs, while Suffolk Cheviot ewes also sold to a top price of £170, up from a top price of £162 last year. Across the sale, in-lamb ewes averaged close on £155/head.

This pen of 10 Mule ewes scanned with 19 lambs sold for £154/head.

Ewes and lambs

Before the special sale, there was also a good entry of ewes with lambs at foot. Suffolk ewes and lambs sold from £168 to a peak of £182, while Texel ewes with lambs at foot made £152.

This pen of 10 Mule ewes, scanned with 20 lambs, sold for £160/head.

Factory prices

Meanwhile, processing demand for slaughter-fit sheep is growing, boosting prices for factory-fit hoggets.

Base quotes hit 420p/kg earlier this week, up by 20p/kg from the weekend, but farmers indicate 5p/kg to 10p/kg more is available, with an expectation of prices into 440p/kg by next week.

Driving the trade is a tightening on supply both locally, in Britain and south of the Irish border. Increasing competition between buying agents for Irish plants saw hoggets making £95 to £98 at mart sales held earlier this week, with fat ewes making upwards to £130 at the top of the market.