On Saturday, Carnaross Mart hosted the Cooley Sheep Breeders Association special store lamb and cull ewe sale.
With only Cooley sheep on offer, they didn’t hold back on numbers, as over 1,000 lambs were presented for sale.
In total, there were 1,100 lambs on offer, with 50 cull ewes also sold.
Trade for the lambs was brisk, with buyers both online and around the ring seeking quality store lambs for further feeding and selective lots of ewes lambs being bought for the hogget trade next year.
Mart manager Padraig McElroy said: “The Cooley sheep breeders have a good market for their sheep and put a lot of effort into turning them out.
“There was plenty of repeat buyers for their sheep here on Saturday, with some new faces also making purchases.
“The trade overall was good, with the better-quality lambs able to cross the €150/head mark, with most of the lambs selling from €120 to €135/head.
“Their main sale will be taking place later in the year in Carlingford and we expect a big turnout of sheep. It is expanding year on year and many repeat buyers come from all parts of the country to purchase Cooley sheep.”
Store lambs
Store lambs weighing between 20kg and 30kg were highly sought after, with the top lots of well-bred lambs crossing the €5/kg mark. The lambs is this weight bracket sold for an average of €4.06/kg.
There was a small number of lambs on offer weighing under 20kg, with most of these weighing around the 19kg mark and they sold from €4.20/kg up to €4.45/kg, leaving these around the €85/head price tag.
Lambs weighing between 30kg and 40kg sold to an average of €3.98/kg, with many of the top-priced lots making around the €4.30/kg mark.
Lambs weighing from 30kg to 35kg hit the sweet spot in terms of trade.
They were most sought after and sold generally from €4.10/kg upwards.
“Pens of nice ewe lambs commanded premium prices, with these being bought for breeding hoggets next year. Some of the heavier ones close to 40kg might be put to the ram later this year, but I would encourage farmers to split them from the ram lambs,” said Padraig.
Cull ewes
The cull ewe trade was steady on the day, with the selling topping at €202 for ewes weighing 81kg.
The general run for well-fed ewes weighing over 70kg was from €2.40/kg up to €2.60/kg.
Lowland type ewes lacking flesh sold from €2.20/kg upwards, with mountain-cross ewes selling around €2/kg, depending on quality and flesh.
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