A strong showing of 720 sheep were on offer at Station Road Mart, Cootehill, Co. Cavan, on Tuesday evening, November 17.
The mart’s manager, Jimmy O’Reilly, said that whatever sheep came through the door of the mart were easily sold, with a good demand across the board for all classes of sheep.
He noted the store lambs were one of the strongest trades, with both light and forward stores in high demand.
He said: “Those light, long-keep store lambs are making up on €3.00/kg and a bit more with it. The heavier stores are also going well, with the majority of those types selling from €2.60-2.70/kg.
Again, it’s mainly farmers we are seeing that are buying the stores. I saw some light stores on Tuesday weighing 26.5kg making €80/head and some heavier stores in the 40kg bracket selling for €104/head.
“Moving towards the heavier lambs, again there’s a very good demand for factory and butcher lambs. We are seeing a good number coming through the mart and they are selling very well.
“On Tuesday evening, butcher lambs made up to €128/kg for lambs weighing 51kg. We have three or four butcher lambs coming in to us buying these lambs regularly.
“As well as that, we have a strong cohort of factory agents that are taking what lambs they can get a hold of. We saw some strong prices of €118-121/head for lambs weighing 46-47.5kg on Tuesday.
“Moving onto the cull ewe trade, again there’s a good demand for those heavy ewes. Prices reached €129/head for fleshed ewes.
“Overall, I’d say the trade is very good; there’s a good demand for all types of sheep and that was evident Tuesday as everything was nearly sold.”