Factories are actively seeking lambs to meet the increased demand for the Eid al-Adha festival, according to Sean Dennehy of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA).
The IFA sheep chair said that strong market demand and tight supplies of suitable lambs forced factories into increasing prices this week.
Sean added: “Factories are actively seeking lambs to meet the increased demand for the Eid al-Adha festival starting on July 20, and have had to increase prices offered over the weekend.
“Deals of €6.40-6.60/kg are being offered. Farmers with suitable lambs are rightly holding out for these and higher prices.
“Factories are offering deals on transport and on weights to secure lambs. The advice to farmers is to be fully aware of their weights to maximise the value of the deals that are available.
“The trade is being helped by increased live export buying and will be further supported following the Eid al-Adha festival as breeding and store sales commence,” he continued.
“Cull ewes are also in strong demand with €3.60/kg available.
“Lamb throughput to date this year stands at 325,880 head and is over 9,700 lambs more than this time last year.
“This higher movement of lambs earlier in the year is now feeding into the weekly slaughterings where numbers week-on-week are back over 5,000 head compared to 2020.”
Sean added that the average weight of lambs slaughtered this year is 0.5/kg lighter than last year, pointing to the earlier movement of lambs and ensuring there will be no major flush of lambs.
Farmers should continue to sell hard in these favourable market conditions, the IFA sheep chair concluded by saying.