Baltinglass Mart has decided to postpone this Saturday’s sheep sale due to rising Covid-19 cases. Meanwhile, Mountbellew Mart has confirmed that its sheep sale is going ahead this Saturday, January 9.
Speaking to AgriLand, the mart manager of Baltinglass Mart, Tom Coleman, said that due to rising Covid-19 cases in the area, that the best thing to do was to postpone this Saturday’s sale.
However, he wasn’t able to confirm whether the Wicklow-based mart would be back in action next week, stating that they were hopeful of running both cattle and sheep sales as normal next week on Wednesday, January 13, and Saturday, January 16, respectively.
Baltinglass is one of many marts that have deferred sales until next week. Yesterday, Loughrea Mart confirmed that today’s sheep sale wouldn’t be going ahead due to potentially dangerous driving conditions.
While earlier in the week, a number of marts all over the country postponed scheduled sales this week due to rising Covid-19 cases in their respective areas.
First sale of the year at Blessington gets off to a flyer
One Wicklow mart to get up and running this week was Blessington – which saw the trade pick up where it let off in 2020.
John Doyle of Blessington Mart reported a strong start to the mart’s first sheep sale of the new year on Tuesday, January 5.
John noted that both fat and store lambs were the standout trade on the day, with heavy and forward store lambs selling similar to pre-Christmas levels and more in cases.
Factory lambs made from €117/head up to €128-130/head, with the appetite among factory agents strong for these types.
Forward store lambs over 40kg were a flying trade according to John, with these lots making from €100/head up to €115/head.
Lighter store lambs between 35kg and 39kg generally sold from €85/head up to €105/head.
John highlighted that the cull ewe trade today was similar to that of before the Christmas break. Heavy ewes traded from €115/head up to a tops of €127/head.
Feeding ewes started from €75/head and reached €110/head for more forward-feeding type ewes that required a small bit more feeding.