Ballinasloe Mart in Co Galway recorded a larger entry of in excess of 1,000 lambs in their weekly sale on Thursday evening. The brightest trade on the evening was for well-fleshed slaughter-fit lambs with factory agents keen not to let any lambs return home unsold. Prices paid were very much influenced by flesh cover with a differential rising to and in cases exceeding €8 evident for lambs of a similar weight but varying quality.

Fleshed ram lambs weighing in excess of 50kg sold from €90 to €94 over the weight with a handful of superior quality butcher-type lambs or ewe lambs with breeding potential rising to €95 to €98 over the weight. There was a similar trend for lambs weighing 46kg to 48kg with prices ranging in a wider differential from €80 to €90 over the weight.

Likewise store lambs weighing around the 43kg to 44kg and needing considerable feeding sold from €106 to €114 with fleshed short-keep lambs with scope to carry weight and achieve favourable slaughter performance selling to the mid €120s.

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The store lamb trade was mixed. Nice-quality lowland store lambs weighing from 37kg to 40kg sold from €2.40/kg to €2.65/kg for the best-quality types. Light lambs which were presented as a long finishing prospect sold back to €2.10/kg to €2.30/kg.

In pictures

These Suffolk-cross and Charollais-cross ram lambs weighing 50kg sold for €145 each.

These Texel-cross ewe lambs weighing 37kg sold for €92 each.

This batch of Texel-cross lambs weighing 43.5kg sold for €109 each.

This batch of Texel-cross ewes lambs weighing 44.5kg sold for €124 each.

Eight Texel-cross ewe lambs in front weighing 46kg sold for €128. Eight quality Texel-cross ewe lambs weighing 49kg at back sold for €140.

These 20 ewe lambs weighing 35kg sold for €96 each.

These Texel-cross and Charollais-cross ewe lambs weighing 46kg sold for €129 each.

These Charollais-cross lambs weighing 47kg sold for €131 each.

This batch of 10 Kerry Hill-cross ewe lambs weighing 43.5kg sold for €110 each.

These well-presented ewe lambs sold for €147 each.