Mountbellew Mart’s sheep sale on Saturday saw a much busier sale, with farmers pre-empting stronger demand for the Easter trade and targeting presenting hoggets, spring lambs and cull ewes.

Demand was firm, with strong appetite for hoggets, but with the higher offering and reports of a slight weakening in factory trade agents were reluctant to compete to the same intensity.

Premium

Heavy hoggets weighing 53kg to 60kg sold in general from €124 to €129, with a few pens of ewe hoggets attracting farmer interest and securing a premium of a few euro extra.

Lighter lots weighing back to 48kg sold from €115 to €125, with quality having a big influence on price.

It was a similar story for spring lambs, with quality having a massive influence on prices paid.

A few lots of aged plainer quality lambs in the 40kg to 44kg weight range sold from €110 to €115, while young fleshed lambs in the same weight range sold from €125 to €131.

Lambs weighing to 48kg sold to €135, with a few heavier lots selling to a top of €140 per head.

Cull ewes easier

Last Saturday fortnight’s sale witnessed a flying trade for cull ewes and this served to bring about a big jump in entries, with about double the number on offer.

The trade was easier by in the region of €5 to €8 per head, but was still described as a relatively good sale with the majority sold.

Large-framed fleshed ewes sold from €105 to €120 on average, with a few individual lots selling from €130 to a top of €138 per head.

Ewes with an average cover of flesh sold from €80 to €100, with a small number of ewes in poor condition selling from €45 to €70.

Strong demand

Demand for ewes with lambs at foot has been strong in recent weeks and Saturday’s sale was no different.

There was a wide differential in prices paid and this was reflected mainly by the age of ewes on offer and the strength and quality of lambs.

Aged ewes with young lambs sold from €140 upwards on average, with good-quality ewes doing a good job on lambs selling to €190 for full-mouth ewes, with younger ewes breaking the €200/unit mark.

Ewes with twin lambs sold from €200 for average-quality lots to €240 to €250 for units with strong lambs and younger ewes, with a few superior-quality lots topping this.