The price of breeding hoggets has jumped by more than 50% over the past two years, results from a key sheep sale indicate.
At the annual Suffolk Cheviot sale at Ballymena Livestock Mart on Saturday, just under 2,850 hoggets sold to an average price of £287.
The sale average is £46 higher than last year’s auction and is up £99 on the 2023 average.
A comparison of historic figures shows the average hogget price at the long running sale has more than doubled over the past 10 years.
The highest selling lot last Saturday was a pen of Suffolk Cheviot hoggets exhibited by Wilson McCurdy from Ballymena which sold for £390 per head.
The next highest hogget price of £385 was paid to three different vendors, namely Wilson McCurdy, David and Desmond Knox from Ederney, and William Blackburn from Clogher.
In the ewe lamb ring at Ballymena, 730 lambs sold to an average price of £179, which is up £31 on last year’s sale.
The average ewe lamb price is £69 dearer than the 2023 figure and equates to a 63% price rise over the past two years.
The top ewe lamb price on Saturday was a single Suffolk Cheviot lamb from Crocknataggart Farms, Draperstown which made £420.
Other leading ewe lamb prices made over the £250 mark, including Texel lambs from D and J Boyd, Doagh, which sold for £270 and Crocknataggart sold other Suffolk Cheviots for £260.
SHARING OPTIONS