It’s been another strong week of trading at sheep marts across the country, with lamb prices, once again, increasing on last week, and the cull ewe trade seeing a lift too.
From speaking to mart managers throughout the week, many have called lamb prices to be stronger by, generally, €5/head with some calling the trade to be stronger by as much as €8/head on the previous week.
This has been helped by strong factory demand, as prices have, once again, improved this week, hitting highs of €7.30-7.40/kg – with 5-10c/kg more being reportedly secured for larger groups of lambs.
Looking at the mart trade this past week, prices for those fleshed, heavy lambs have notched up another gear as competition around the ring for lambs intensifies.
Many of those 50kg-plus lambs have been selling for €160-170/head – with some rising to €172/head and some selling back to €156-158/head.
Lambs weighing 44-49kg have, generally, been making from just under the €140/head mark, up to highs of €160-164/head.
Prices for forward stores continue to creep up in line with finished lamb prices. Many of those forward-type lambs have been selling from the €125/head mark up to as high as €140/head and in cases as high as €141-143/head for lambs possessing a good cover of flesh.
Lambs weighing as light as 24-25kg have sold back as far as €60/head for Scotch lambs up to €118-125/head for lowland-bred lambs.
The cull ewe trade is gathering momentum with well-fleshed heavy ewes generally selling from €140-180/head.
Again from talking to mart managers, prices for heavy fleshed ewes had generally stagnated around the €140-155/head mark over the last few weeks; however, over the past week to 10 days, more of them well-fleshed ewe are moving at prices of €160-180/head more frequently.