Sheep farmers from Kerry to Donegal and everywhere in between flocked to Carlingford, Co. Louth, on Saturday, September 6, for the 15th annual sale of the Cooley Sheep Breeders' Association.

The outdoor annual event takes place in a field outside Carlingford with the sales ring under a marquee. The sale itself was taken care of by Ballybofey and Stranorlar Co-operative Livestock Mart, Co. Donegal with online bidding available via MartEye.

The free transport provided across Ireland for all sheep bought in the sale helped with the dispersal of both lambs and hoggets to customers around the country.

The top price in the sale was €550/head paid for a pen of 10 Cheviot hoggets. These were owned by Declan McCormack and purchased by well-known Co. Kerry-based sheep breeder Glyn Egan or 'Sheep Shephard' as he is best known on social media.

The first 55 lots in the sale were crossbred hoggets, with the top price in this section being €500/head paid for a pen of 10 hoggets owned by Padraig Rice.

There were 29 pens of Mule hoggets entered, with strong interest in these and a top price in this section of €440 going to a pen of 10, also owned by the aforementioned Padraig Rice.

The Hilltex/Lleyn and Cheviot-cross hoggets saw a top price of €335/head paid for a pen owned by Johnny Campbell.

The Horned hoggets were the last hoggets to enter the ring, and strong interest in this section saw €400/head paid for a pen owned by Thomas Keenan.

There was a huge entry of lambs in the sale also, with as high as €380/head paid for a pen of ewe lambs owned by Dominic McGuinness.

In total, over 3,100 ewe lambs and hoggets went through the sale ring with strong demand throughout.