David Quinn of Carnew Mart reported a steady trade at Thursday’s weekly sheep sale, with big numbers on offer.
David said there was a good demand overall; however, he did note that heavy ewes weren’t as hot a trade as last week, while the first ewes with lambs at foot appeared at the mart for 2021.
Talking about the trade on Thursday, David said: “Looking at the trade for fleshed hoggets first, heavy hoggets in excess of 50kg sold from €140/head up to €144/head, which was similar to last week.
“45-49kg hoggets generally made from €130/head up to a high of €140/head. Stores over 40kg traded from €110/head up to €127/head, while stores under 40kg sold from €85/head up to €115/head.
“Heavy ewes weren’t as hot a trade as last week, but still sold strongly, with prices for those well-fleshed ewes ranging from €120/head up to €137/head. Feeding ewes sold from €80/head up to €115/head.
“A clearance sale of 140 young ewes also took place on Thursday. The ewes are due to lamb from March 4 onwards to Suffolk and Texel rams and were scanned carrying on average 1.7 lambs. They sold from €150/head up to €205/head.
“The first ewes with lambs at foot to appear at Carnew Mart for 2021 arrived on Thursday. Ewes with single lambs at foot traded from €170/unit up to €230/unit, while ewes with two lambs at foot made from €230/unit up to €280/unit.”