Lamb prices continue to hold to a high level, similar to last week, with some sheep marts reporting prices increasing for factory-fit lambs, while many others reporting a similarly strong trade to the previous week for finished lambs in general.
Entries at some sales took a hit due to Storm Barra, but this didn’t impact the trade, with all lambs remaining in good demand – especially finished lambs.
Looking at the trade, lambs over 50kg continue to trade from a base of €156/head up to €168/head in general, with some lambs pushing returns of €170-172/head.
Lambs in the 44-49kg weight bracket continue to trade from €140/head up to €160/head, with again, some pushing returns of €162-164/head for excellent quality lots.
Store lambs remain a solid trade but have seen a marked fall in recent weeks as numbers continue to dwindle.
In saying that, forward stores have remained in good demand, and this is being helped by factory agents dipping their toes in for lambs possessing a decent cover of flesh.
In general, forward stores continue to trade from €130/head up to €140/head – with slightly lesser quality lambs selling back to €125/head.
The trade for lighter stores has, mainly, fallen off in comparison. In general, lambs over the 20kg mark are starting at a base of over €50 for hill-bred lambs and moving up to high of €115-124/head for better-quality lowland-bred lambs.
Moving onto the cull ewe trade, prices are holding at a higher level compared to a few weeks back.
Well-flesh heavy ewes continue to sell from a wide range of €140/head up to €170/head in general, with some exceptional ewes over 100kg bucking this trend and selling at levels greater to this.
Furthermore, prices for store ewes range from €40-50/head up to €110-135/head for forward feeding ewes.