Mart auctioneer, George Candler reported an electric trade for all types of sheep at Monday’s (March 22) sale at Kilkenny Mart.

The first of this year’s spring lambs were seen and were met with very strong demand, with prices reaching €180/head for 45kg lambs.

In general, prices for the “few pens” of spring lambs on offer ranged from €155/head up to €180/head for 40-45kg lambs.

Speaking to AgriLand about the trade for the spring lambs, George said: “It was a great start for the springs. Prices reached €180/head or €4.00/kg for 45kg.

“I suppose if you were to compare it to this time last year, spring lambs started out at as high as €150/head and this year they hit €180/head, so that will tell you how good a demand there is there at the moment.”

Looking at the hogget trade, again, similar to what was seen for the spring lambs, prices reached the €180/head mark and peaked at €181/head for 60kg.

Even though prices for those 50kg plus hoggets hit a high of €181/head, George said that there was quite a bit of variation in the prices paid out for these lots, with prices going from €155/head up to €181/head.

Sample prices for 50-60kg hoggets: 

  • Eight at 60 sold for €181/head or €3.02/kg;
  • Eight at 57kg sold for €180/head or €3.16/kg;
  • 30 at 56kg sold for €171/head or €3.05/kg;
  • Eight at 55kg sold for €168/head or €3.05/kg;
  • 10 at 52kg sold for €165/head or €3.17/kg;
  • 22 at 50kg sold for €159/head or €3.18/kg.

Hoggets in the 44-48kg weight bracket sold from €140/head up to a top price of €176/head, with a standout price of €3.74/kg paid out for a pen of 12 47kg hoggets.

Sample factory hogget prices:

  • 10 at 48kg sold for €175/head or €3.65/kg;
  • 10 at 48kg sold for €173/head or €3.60/kg;
  • 12 at 47kg sold for €176/head or €3.74/kg;
  • 10 at 46kg sold for €174/head or €3.78/kg.

George added: “The trade for hoggets carried on from where it was last week and I’d say that prices were even up by €2-3/head on last week.

“There is a serious demand there and a serious scarcity of supplies which is leading to a very good trade. If we had more there on Monday they would have been snapped up in a shot.

“It’s great to see because the sheep farmers deserve their turn of good prices.”

Finally, looking at the cull ewe trade, heavy ewes topped out at €185/head and sold back to €85/head stores.