Sheep mart prices: heavier lambs up €1 to €4/head

The only real change in this week’s mart trade is a slightly sharper bite for heavier lambs.

This comes as a result of the two ICM plants increasing their paid carcase weight limit by 0.5kg to 22.5kg.

This is worth in the region of €3.75/head to €3.90/head, with this resulting in prices firming anywhere to the tune of €1 to €4/head and on average from €2 to €3/head.

Top-quality lambs weighing in excess of 50kg to 52kg are trading at the higher end of the market from €170 to €175. Lambs lacking flesh or likely to record lower slaughter performance continue to trade from €162 to €168, depending on quality.

Wholesale and butcher buyers remain in a stronger position for top-quality lots and are edging out factory agents, with top prices rising to €180 and higher in isolated cases.

It is a similar trend for lambs weighing 48kg to 49kg, with slaughter performance dictating prices paid.

Prices range anywhere from the low-€150s to mid-€160s, with a wide differential evident based on quality. The store lamb trade is unchanged, with a high percentage of lowland-type store lambs selling from €3.20/kg to €3.35/kg.

Top-quality lots are in cases rising to €3.40/kg to €3.45/kg, with higher paid for batches containing lambs with breeding potential.

The number of such lots of ewe lambs appearing in sales has reduced, but there is still keen demand present for top-quality ewe lambs. Plainer-quality stores are selling back to €3/kg, with hill crosses selling anywhere from €3/kg to €3.30/kg and again higher for select ewe lambs.

The cull ewe trade is steady. Heavy ewes weighing from 90kg to 100kg are selling in most instances from €200 to €220, but there are some reports of select lots selling to €235 to €250/head.

Lighter ewes weighing from 80kg to 85kg are trading on average from €2.10/kg to €2.30/kg, with plainer-quality and feeding types from €1.85/kg to €2/kg.

Lighter Scotch ewes are selling from €1.30/kg to €1.40/kg for fleshed types with ewes lacking flesh back to €1/kg, while larger-framed types are rising to €1.60/kg to €1.80/kg.