Sheep mart comment: pressure on hoggets but ewes firm

Some mart sales have seen prices hold steady to €2 to €3 easier, while others have seen prices reduce by €5 to €6-plus per head, with agents more coy in their purchasing activity.

Darren Carty

22 January 2025

Sheep mart comment: pressure on hoggets but ewes firm

Light store lambs remain a solid trade and have not been affected by factory attempts to put pressure on finished lamb prices. \ Patrick Browne

The move by factories to try to steady the trade has also been evident in mart sales. Agents are still exhibiting the same demand for sheep, but are more coy in places in their purchasing activity.

The move by factories to try to steady the trade has also been evident in mart sales.

Agents are still exhibiting the same demand for sheep, but are more coy in places in their purchasing activity.

Reports, as a result, are variable between sales, with some marts reporting a steady to slightly easier trade, while others are reporting prices ease by €5 to €6-plus per head.

A number of mart managers have also reported lower quality, with some sheep presented with weight, but lacking flesh.

Hoggets weighing around the 50kg mark are selling from the low €200s for average-quality lots to €208 to €210-plus.

Heavier fleshed hoggets weighing upwards of 52kg to 53kg are trading from €207 to €218, with some very heavy hoggets topping €225/head.

Lighter lots weighing 47kg to 48kg range anywhere from the mid-€180s for lesser-quality types to the mid- to high-€190s and over €200 for the best-quality types.

The trade for store lambs is holding firm in the main, despite some pressure on finished lamb prices.

Prices of upwards of €4/kg are the benchmark in most sales for lowland lambs, with prices in some sales averaging from €4.10/kg to €4.30/kg for lambs presented with a nice cover of flesh.

Poorly presented types with poor weight for age and crossbred types are falling back below the €4/kg mark, with good-quality hill lambs topping €3.80/kg and easing back to €3/kg for lesser-quality lots.

Demand for cull ewes is firm, with more numbers on offer in most marts last week. This is being driven by a combination of farmers moving ewes following scanning or sheep census declaration and a vibrant mart trade enticing more ewes to the ring.

The best-quality cull ewes remain at prices of €2.60/kg to €2.90/kg, with select lots of pedigree and ewes with excellent slaughter potential rising to and topping €3/kg. This is typically in smaller numbers.

Plainer-quality lots range from €2.30/kg to €2.50/kg, with very few lowland ewes with any sort of reasonable flesh cover falling back below €2/kg.

Lighter-carcase ewes and poorer-quality hill types range from €1.30/kg to €1.70/kg-plus.