Sheep farmers looking to add to their flocks ahead of the upcoming lambing season will have chance to purchase a range of in-lamb ewes at an upcoming dispersal sale taking place tomorrow (Saturday, January 13) at Tullow Mart.
The dispersal sale is of the flock belonging to Eric Driver, the mart manager at Tullow Mart who is bowing out of lambing, after building up this flock over the last 20 years.
There is a range of 250 Suffolk and Suffolk crosses available at the auction, along with 120 mule ewes.
The mule is a cross between a Blue Faced Leicester ram and a Scotch or Lanark ewe, and they are renowned for their maternal characteristics.
A selection of 130 Texel cross ewes will also be available at the sale.
Each of the in-lamb ewes at the upcoming dispersal sale will be carrying 1.85 lambs to a Suffolk ram, and they are all due to lamb from March 8 onwards.
The dispersal sale will take place on Saturday, January 13 at Tullow Mart at 1.00p.m.
Ewes will be offered in no greater lots than ten, and they have all received up-to-date dosing and vaccinations.
In-lamb ewe sales
Small numbers of in-lamb ewes have started to appear at marts since the turn of the year. Some marts in the past week or two have even held special entries of these ewes at their weekly sales.
A recent sale at Cootehill Mart also featured a selection of in-lamb ewes. The top price in the in-lamb ewe sale went to a batch of four, two and three-year-old ewes that sold for €200/head.
In the coming weeks, entries of in-lamb ewes will be expected to get bigger heading towards the end of January and into February.