Markets

Camera at the mart: demand slows for fat lambs at Kilrea Mart

There was a noticeable cooling of the lamb trade at Kilrea on Monday, as factory prices eased.

Kieran Mailey

Wed 22 August 2018 12:00 AM

Kieran Mailey

Wed 22 August 2018 9:00 PM

Camera at the mart: demand slows for fat lambs at Kilrea Mart

This pen of crossbred lambs weighing 22.5kg sold for £76.

This pen of crossbred lambs weighing 24kg sold for £81.

This pen of crossbred lambs weighing 21.5kg sold for £73.50.

This pen of crossbred lambs weighing 23.5kg sold for £83.50.

This pen of Texel lambs weighing 23.5kg sold for £84.

This pen of crossbred lambs weighing 23.5kg sold for £79.50.

This pen of crossbred lambs weighing 23kg sold for £80.80.

This pen of crossbred lambs weighing 22kg sold for £79.50.

This pen of crossbred lambs weighing 22kg sold for £78.80.

This pen of crossbred lambs weighing 23.5kg sold for £81.

This pen of crossbred lambs weighing 20.5kg sold for £74.

This pen of crossbred lambs weighing 20kg sold for £71.

Camera at the mart attended the weekly sheep sale in Kilrea Mart on Monday.

With an improved trade for heavy lambs in recent weeks, there was a good entry of lambs forwarded for sale.

With buyers less competitive after factories cut prices by 5p to 10p/kg and bigger numbers on offer, prices were down on the previous week.

The easier trade comes on the back of processors reaching peak throughput last week in the run up to the Eid al-Adha festival, which got under way on Saturday.

At the top end of the trade, heavy fleshed Texel- and Suffolk-cross lambs were back up £5 to £6 per head on last week, depending on liveweight.

Mart manager Mark Stewart commented on the sale, saying that while the trade was noticeably steadier than previous weeks, buyers are still wanting fat lambs and good-quality ewes and that more sheep are required week on week.

At Monday’s sale, prices for fat lambs reached a high point of £84 for a pen of Texel animals weighing 23.5kg half-weight.

This was followed by another pen of Texel-cross lambs at 23.5kg half-weight making £83.80.

Texel-cross lambs dominated the trade at the top end of the market, with several pens of heavy-fleshed meal-fed lambs weighing 23kg to 24kg half-weight selling above the £80 per head mark.

Suffolk-cross lambs at similar weights also sold above the £80 mark on a couple of occasions, but they were usually £2 to £3 per head less than Texel-cross lambs.

A pen of good-quality Mule lambs weighing 24kg sold to £81.

Fat lambs weighing 22kg to 22.5kg sold to a top price of £82.80, with plainer lambs at similar weights selling upwards from £75.80 to £79.50.

Lambs weighing 21kg to 21.5kg sold upwards from £73.50 to £78.20, depending on quality.

Good-quality lambs weighing 20kg to 20.5kg sold from £71 to £74.

A limited entry of good-quality short-keep store lambs weighing 17kg to 18kg were met with a sharp demand, with several pens selling from £60 to £67.50.

Fat ewes were a firm trade, with fleshed ewes selling to a peak of £92 per head.