“It’s been a shocking dear year for store lambs,” according to Eimear McGuinness, the manager of the Donegal Co-op Livestock Mart.

Eimear spoke to AgriLand after the mart’s final sale of the year on Friday (December 18) to give a bit of an insight into the trade and what the sheep trade has been like throughout 2020.

She said: “The trade was fantastic at our last sale and, to be honest, it has been like that for much of 2020.

“The store lambs have been shocking dear this year. Generally, you would expect stores to come back in price and maybe average out around €80/head in the back end of the year; however, that has been far from the case, with those store lambs consistently averaging around the €100/head mark.

It has been great to see. Sheep farmers have had it tough the last few years, so it is great to see a year like we have had this year.

“Looking back on our final sale of the year, those heavy lambs remained in strong demand right up to the finish and made up to €130/head.

“Again, the factory lambs were a lively trade and sold strongly like the fat lambs.

“We had a special entry of three-quarter bred Blue Texel lambs on Thursday as well and they made big money – up on €300/head and more.

“The standout trade though has been the store lambs. We would have a lot of hill-bred lambs up our way and they have been making great money. There seems to be more farmers feeding stores this year and that seems to be driving the trade on.

I would have to say, probably like most other mart managers have said, but I’d say lambs are €10-15/head dearer across the board in 2020 in comparison to 2019.

“The only thing I’d be worried about is that I’m just hoping that those farmers that bought those light store lambs for big money see a return for them in the new year. You just don’t know what way it could go but I would be optimistic that the trade will pick up where it let off in 2021 again.”