Sheep Ireland’s 15th annual multi-breed elite ram sale recorded the highest average price to-date of €913 /head, up €60/head on 2024 levels. The clearance rate, however, reduced by 10%, falling from 90% in 2024 to 80% in 2025.

This was partly influenced by the sale recording its largest offering of rams, with 629 rams catalogued and 570 passing through the three rings in Kilkenny Mart on Saturday last.

As detailed in Table 1, the sale has grown and developed significantly over the last 15 years and is now the largest sale of catalogued rams, with the most stringent entry requirements.

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Average prices recorded in recent years have been boosted by all rams on offer being eligible for the genotyped ram action in the Sheep Improvement Scheme.

The sale offers rams to meet the requirements of pedigree and commercial breeders, with a wide range in sale values as also demonstrated in Table 1.

Breed breakdown

Table 2 provides a detailed breakdown of sale performance by breed. It also provides a comparison to 2024 sale performance where the breed was also on offer.

The Texel breed had the largest entry of rams with 195 rams traded and recorded the highest average price passing the €1,000 mark for the first time.

The breed also recorded the highest individual price paid for a ram with the hammer falling at €4,600 for a Texel ram (lot 348) bred by John and Michael Donohoe, Co Cavan.

The February-born ram lamb, which was purchased for pedigree breeding, was rated five-star on the replacement index and four-stars on the terminal index and was ranked in the top 6% of the breed for daughter milk.

Charollais

The Charollais breed had the second highest entry of 162 rams. Their average price of €945 was up €137 on the year previous year, but the clearance fell by 14% to 74%.

The highest price of €1,850 was to Longford breeder Bernard Casey for lot 67, a ram ranked in the top 1% of the breed on the terminal index and the top 1% for days to slaughter, at over 30 days lower.

Suffolk

The 111 Suffolk rams on offer recorded a clearance rate of 77% and an average price of €890/head. The top price of €2,100 was achieved for lot 540, an April-2024 hogget ram bred by Gregory Rossiter, Co Wexford.

The double five-star ram ranked in the top 2% of the breed on the replacement index and the top 7% on the terminal index.

Belclare

The Belclare breed also recorded improved fortunes in 2025 with the average price of €735 recorded across a clearance of 93% of the 43 rams offered.

The top price of €1,450 was recorded for lot 458, a February-born triplet lamb ranked in the top 1% of the breed on the terminal index and the top 2% on the replacement index.

Vendéen

The Vendéen breed recorded a €30 increase in their average price, at €597/head, with a clearance rate of 52%. The top price of €800 was paid for lot 26, a December-born ram lamb bred by Mark Keenaghan, Co Offaly. The ram was ranked in the top 3% of the breed on the replacement index and top 2% on the terminal index.

More online

Further breed analysis of the sale sponsored by FBD, Cormac Tagging and Weatherbys Scientific can be found at www.farmersjournal.ie.

Sheep Ireland’s elite multi-breed hill ram sale is on Friday 10 October in Manorhamilton Mart.