There was over 2,250 sheep on offer last Friday in Dowra Mart for its weekly sheep sale.

Mart manager Terry McGovern reported a better demand for all types of sheep.

“We had a super show of sheep on offer. The fat heavy lamb saw better bite this week up a couple [of] euro on the week before and the store lambs saw the biggest boost. We had buyers travelling from all over, looking for lambs for grass with a burst of growth in places,” said Terry.

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“The lift in factory quotes is much wanted, farmers put in a tough spring lambing ewes up these parts, it’s great to see them rewarded for their work. A lot of lambs sold up these parts are stores and we need the lads who bring them through to finish to be rewarded as well,” Terry added.

“The real heavy fat lambs sold for €200/head with most lambs weighing over 50kg selling from €180 upwards to €200/head. The stores were a lot easier sold this week. Lambs weighing over 40kg sold anywhere from €140 upwards to €170/head. There was a number of quality lots of ewe lambs and they commanded a premium”.

“Your lighter lowland type store weighing from 35kg to 40kg sold from €120/head upwards, with a small few lots weighing under the 35kg mark selling from €115/head.

Horned-ram lambs

Terry added: “There was plenty of customers for the horned-ram lambs and lambs weighing over 40kg were highly sought after. They were fetching over €140/head in cases, the lighter lambs weighing between 35kg and 40kg selling from €110/head upwards with a small few lighter lots selling around the €100/head mark.

“The cull ewe trade has seen a bit of a lift with buyers after ewes for grass. Price is heavily dependent on quality. Forward-type ewes made €2.20/kg to €2.50/kg while store ewes are selling from €1.70/kg upwards with horned-type ewes selling from €1.50/kg depending on age and flesh cover.”