The latest sheep breeding group to hold a sale in a busy sales schedule and witness improved fortunes was the Mule Lanark sale held in Tuam Mart on Friday evening.

Mule hoggets sold to upwards of €400/head while ewe lambs sold to a top of €335/head.

The entry of over 400 hoggets averaged €305/head with prices influenced strongly by quality in a wide differential of over €200/head between the best and poorest-quality lots on offer. A handful of excellent-quality lots sold from €420 to €435/head with another eight lots from €350 to €390/head and a similar number from €300 to €340/head.

ADVERTISEMENT

This accounted for close to 55% of entries with 30% of the remaining lots selling from €235 to €285/head with a handful of light-framed and some horned hoggets selling from €170 to €210.

Ewe lambs

The trade for almost 1,000 ewe lambs was solid with prices averaging at €188/head. There were seven lots weighing in excess of 45kg with such lots selling from €210 to €335 and averaging at €257/head. About 24% of entries weighed from 40kg to 45kg with prices here ranging in the main from €180 to €240 with a few lots selling to €300/head. The average price here was €226/head.

Another 31% of entries weighed from 35kg to 40kg with the average price of these lots recorded at €188/head. Prices here were in a relatively tight price range of €170 to €220 with a few lots to €235. There was also a significant number of about 28% of entries weighing from 30kg to 34.5kg with the average price of these lambs at €168.50/head and ranging from €130 to €195/head.

The remaining 10% of entries weighing from 23.5kg to 29kg sold on average for €144/head with prices here ranging from a low of €110 to high of €185 for lambs weighing 29.5kg.

Watch sale lots

The first prizewinning pen of Mule ewe hoggets sold for €435/head.

These top-quality Mule ewe hoggets sold for €420 each.

These whiter-faced Mule ewe hoggets sold for €385/head.

This batch of 15 nice-quality Mule ewe hoggets sold for €335 each.

These medium-sized ewe hoggets sold for €195 each.

These horned but nice-quality Mule ewe hoggets sold for €265 each.

This batch of light-framed ewe hoggets sold for €210 each.

Ewe lambs

Weighing 50.5kg, these quality ewe lambs sold for €335 each.

This batch of nice-quality ewe lambs weighing 41.5kg sold for €230 each (€5.54/kg).

Weighing 37.8kg, these Mule ewe lambs sold for €185/head (€4.89/kg).

At an average weight of 36kg, these quality ewe lambs sold for €205 each (€5.69/kg).

These 34kg ewe lambs sold for €175 each (€5.15/kg).

This batch of five ewe lambs weighing 30kg sold for €160 each (€5.33/kg).

These light ewe lambs weighing 28.5kg sold for €125 each (€4.39/kg).