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There was more positive news on the lamb price front this week, as Kepak and Irish Country Meats increased their quotes by 5c/kg to a base of €4.70/kg and €4.60/kg respectively.
Demand in the east has been building steadily for lambs and agents have been keen for numbers of fleshed lambs.
Farmers in the east have negotiated prices of €4.80/kg, with some even securing up to €4.85/kg. However, in the west, a large proportion of lambs were moving at €4.70/kg to €4.75/kg.
It’s hard to know what is driving the variation in prices, but it looks like prices paid are set to balance out nationwide.
Talking to farmers, it is becoming apparent that the clean livestock policy is causing issues, with dirty lambs being turned away for slaughter (see news, page 3).
With the return of rain and more fodder crops on the menu for lambs, this problem is likely to be controversial again as we head towards Christmas.
Farmers, as always, are being encouraged to present lambs in a clean and dry state, with cut lines critical to present lambs clean. This is easier said than done, especially when the weather is not playing ball.
IFA national sheep chair Sean Dennehy said farmers were getting very frustrated with the overzealous interruption of the policy, in some cases resulting in lambs being refused for slaughter.
Equally, he said farmers were very angry with the way some factories were using the policy to apply unfair charges on farmers.
As mentioned previously, Irish Country Meats is now on a base of €4.60/kg (plus 10c QA). Kildare Chilling has held its quote at €4.65/kg (plus 10c QA).
Kepak has upped its quote by 5c to a base of €4.70/kg (plus 5c QA). Both Moyvalley and Ballon Meats remain unchanged with all-in quotes of €4.70/kg.
The total sheep kill last week was down 12,106 head on the week previous, sitting at 53,837 head.
The main reason for the reduced kill was probably down to the bank holiday, with one less day available to kill lambs. Of that total kill, there were 45,163 head of lambs slaughtered, which is well back too on the week previous.
Base quotes for lambs in the North are unchanged at £3.80/kg (€4.51/kg), while numbers arriving to the south for direct slaughter remain steady and continue to be an important source of throughput for southern plants.
Cull ewes
The ewe quote table remains unchanged, with factories continuing with quotes of €2.40/kg to €2.60/kg. With last week’s kill back at 8,564 head (down 540 head on the same period in 2017), it might spark a return to better prices.
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