Heavy lambs fetching €140/head at Kenmare Mart

The most recent sheep sale in Kenmare Mart, Co. Kerry was held yesterday (Monday, October 23) saw heavy lambs reaching prices of €140/head, a price that was hard to come by on the day.

Kenmare Mart manager Dan McCarthy told Agriland that there were over 2,000 sheep on offer at the sale, with a selection of ewes, rams, and store lambs.

McCarthy estimated that there was a 97% to 98% clearance at the sale, but remarked that the condition of many of the sheep at the sale was poor.

The mart manager said of the breeds present at the sale, which included Suffolk and Cheviot cross breeds, it was the small mountain Scotch lambs that he said there is “a woeful trade for at the moment”.

McCarthy, who took over as mart manager in 2004, said that a lot of these sheep present at the sale had come “straight off the mountain” and that they were “not in form”.

Sale in Kenmare Mart

Speaking on the sheep at the sale, McCarthy said he had hoped lowland farmers would have bought them, but said “the lowland farmers seem to think they’re too long term of a job now.

“They’re too far away from being finished…and the price of feedstuff is too dear.”

Not all livestock present at the sale were coming in underweight, as McCarthy said that a good, heavy lamb was capable of fetching between €130 and €140.

McCarthy said average prices at the sale tended to consist of light lambs that were 20kg making €22 and 18kg making €20.

sheep in kenmare mart — Source: Kenmare Co-Op Mart

“The factory ewes have collapsed completely here,” he added.

While there was a good interest shown for the sale with farmers travelling from across the country to Kenmare, McCarthy said there was also a good interest shown on the sale from online bidders.

McCarthy said that the Kenmare Co-Op Mart would then organise the transport of the purchased sheep to the farmers across the country.

The mart manager said that the hill farmers do have a busy lead up to a sale, as he said they know the sale is on a Monday, so they would be working towards getting their sheep down from mountains the Thursday before the sale.