The spring lamb trade has started off strong this week, with a few special spring lamb sales across the country.
Raphoe Livestock Mart had a big entry of spring lambs, with good demand from local butchers and wholesalers.
The sale was held 100% online on www.martbids.ie.
Mart manager Ann Harkin said: “Trade was very brisk, with unbelievable demand from buyers for quality spring lamb.
"We had over 120 spring lambs, which was a very big entry, and there was a 100% clearance."
A lot of lambs in the 45kg to 50kg weight bracket crossed €200/head.
Topping the trade was a pair of 50kg Texel-cross lambs from local man Johnny Gibbons.
Clonmany butcher William Doherty was the successful purchaser at €282/head.
Next highest price went to Donal Mullaney for his pair of Suffolk-cross lambs. They weighed 47.5 kg and were knocked down to McCarron Butchers in Raphoe at €278/head.
McCarron Butchers also secured the third-prizewinning pair of Texel lambs from John Gallagher.
They weighed 47.5kg and were knocked down at €240/head.
Factory quotes for spring lamb are solid, with opening quotes of €7.70/kg to €7.90/kg, with strong sellers getting €8.00/kg to €8.10/kg.
There was also big demand from factory agents for finished hoggets.
The hogget trade topped out at €180/head for 58kg hoggets.
Ewes with lambs at foot also met big demand, with a top price of €370 for a ewe with two lambs.
It’s a busy start to the week on the @farmersjournal online bidding platform https://t.co/ukeBL3btw5 with sales getting very busy up and down the country. Raphoe is today’s highlight with their show and sale of spring lambs. See https://t.co/B58bv2SqtV for report later. @FJSheep pic.twitter.com/L58oTziPFk
— Adam Woods (@ajwwoods) March 29, 2021
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