Ennis Mart held its weekly sheep sale on Monday (December 14), which saw 322 sheep presented for sale which was a considerable drop from the 467 that were on offer last week.
However, the smaller sale seemed to help the trade, as both lambs and cull ewes saw price increases on the previous week’s sale.
According to a spokesperson for the mart, the trade could only be described as “very strong for both lambs and ewes”.
There were some very good butcher lambs on offer and prices for these lots hit €137/head which was a considerable jump from the €130/head that topped the sale last week. The top price was achieved by a pen of 11 lambs weighing 52kg, while another heavy pen of lambs weighing 51kg sold for €132/head.
On the day, the average price of lambs was €2.54/kg which was up from the €2.45/kg at last week’s sale. The cull ewe trade was stronger this week at Ennis, with heavy ewes topping out at €131/head. Meanwhile, feeding ewes made back to €65/head.
Sample lamb prices:
- 11 lambs weighing 52kg sold for €137/head or €2.63/kg;
- 12 lambs weighing 51kg sold for €132/head or €2.59/kg;
- Eight lambs weighing 44.5kg sold for €114/head or €2.56/kg;
- 12 lambs weighing 51.5kg sold for €128/head or €2.48/kg;
- 10 lambs weighing 45kg sold for €115/head or €2.56/kg;
- Six lambs weighing 45kg sold for €123/head or €2.73/kg;
- Four lambs weighing 41kg sold for €115/head or €2.80/kg.