Lamb prices at marts over the past fortnight have been steady, with little change to report as the 2022 sales draw to a close.
Some marts, towards the end of last week and into this week, have held their final sheep sales of the year, while some will continue to run into next week before the Christmas break.
The weather over the past week has had some impact on sales, either pushing back start times in order to allow farmers plenty of time to get to the mart safely, or in some cases, farmers have not been able to bring sheep to sales at all due to dangerous road conditions.
This, as a result, has impacted on numbers appearing at sales.
Speaking to mart managers, as a whole, the trade has remained steady despite all of this, with no let up in demand in the case of finished lambs.
Some continue to note a disappointing trade for light lambs, which has been the persistent story of the backend of 2022.
Prices
Looking to the trade, heavy lambs in excess of 50kg have generally been selling from €145/head up to €155/head.
Lambs in the 47-49kg weight bracket, in the main, have been selling for €135-140/head, with prices for plainer lots falling back to €128-130/head.
Onto the store trade, some mart managers have said that stores have become scarce, with lighter ones remaining a sticky trade.
Forward stores are selling from a wide range of around the €100 mark, up to highs of €118-126/head.
Stores in the 30-35kg weight bracket have been trading for €80-100/head for lowland bred lambs, with hill-bred lambs the tougher trade and selling from as low as €40/head up to €65-70/head. Lambs under 30kg have been making as little as €30-32/head in cases.
To the ewe trade, once again, not much change to report with the vast majority of heavy ewes moving from €125/head up to €150-155/head and higher in cases of exceptionally heavy types around the 100kg mark.
While, light small- and medium-sized ewes are selling from €60/head up to €105-120/head across marts.