On Wednesday (May 18), Enniscorthy Mart held its weekly sale of sheep, which saw an excellent trade for spring lambs and cull ewes according to the mart’s assistant manager, Kevin Murphy.

After the conclusion of the sale, Agriland caught up with Kevin to get his thoughts on the trade.

He said: “It was a smaller sale this week, but an excellent trade was seen for spring lambs and cull ewes, with prices up anywhere from €8-12/head on last week’s trade.

“Finished sheep are extremely scarce, which has led to a bigger number of factory agents gather ringside and buying online this week.

“There was a lot of online buying, considering buyers were permitted back ringside this week.

“All of the regular buyers are well used to online buying by now and a good proportion of them opted to continue to do so rather than attend in person,” he continued.

“We had a good entry of spring lamb on offer. The heavier lambs or butcher-type lambs were a great trade, making up to €129 over the kilo for the best pen of lambs in the yard.

“Most of the heavy lambs were bought by local butchers as the factory weight limit prevented factory agents from buying the heavy lambs,” he said.

Sample butcher lamb prices:
  • 12 at 51kg sold for €180/head;
  • Six at 50kg sold for €175/head;
  • Two at 53kg sold for €177/head;
  • 10 at 49kg sold for €165/head;
  • Three at 47kg sold for €165/head.

Kevin added: “The factory-type spring lamb saw the biggest lift of the day with most of the suitable lambs up in excess of €10/head.

“Factory lambs ranged from €110 to €127 over the kilo, with a standout price of €171/head for seven lambs at 44kg seen.”

Sample factory lamb prices:
  • Seven at 44kg sold for €171/head;
  • Seven at 45kg sold for €166/head;
  • 13 at 45kg sold for €165/head;
  • 14 at 46kg sold for €164/head;
  • 13 at 44kg sold for €164/head;
  • Six at 41kg sold for €161/head;
  • Nine at 44kg sold for €162/head;
  • Eight at 42kg sold for €158/head;
  • Eight at 42kg sold for €160/head;
  • 15 at 42kg sold for €155/head.

Speaking about the cull ewe trade, Kevin noted: “There was a smaller entry of cull ewes on the day which saw prices increase by €8/head on average.

“There wasn’t as good a quality on offer, with a good proportion of the culls made up of store ewes.”

Sample cull ewe prices:
  • One at 80kg sold for €168;
  • Two at 85kg sold for €161/head;
  • Six at 90kg sold for €154/head;
  • Six at 80kg sold for €155/head;
  • Seven at 81kg sold for €132/head;
  • Five at 84kg sold for €132/head;
  • Four at 80kg sold for €124/head;
  • Four at 78kg sold for €126/head;
  • 19 at 71kg sold for €108/head;
  • Two at 78kg sold for €111/head.

Touching on the hogget and ewes with lamb at foot trade, Kevin explained: “Hoggets were very scarce on the day but [there are] still a few agents looking for hoggets even though they have dropped back maybe €5/head on last week.

“Prices ranged from €95 up to €110 over the kilo, selling up to €170 on the day for a single hogget weighing 70kg.

“Lastly, there were some nice lots of ewes with lambs at foot, which made up to €286 for ewes with twins and €192 for ewes with singles,” he concluded.