Carnaross Mart in Co. Meath hosted its weekly sheep sale on Wednesday evening, December 11, with over 1,800 sheep on offer.
Speaking to Agriland after the sale, auctioneer Rodney Windrum said there was over 1,400 lambs in the sale with the remainder being predominantly cull ewes and a smaller number of breeding ewes also.
Commenting on the trade, he said: “Heavy lambs made up to €216/head and all the butcher lambs over the 50kg mark are making from €198-216/head.”
Sample prices from the sale:
He said that factory lambs weighing 46kg and up are making from €176-185/head depending on the level of flesh.
There was a big number of store lambs in the sale with a range of weights on offer. The auctioneer commented that the store lamb trade is “very strong at present with good-quality store lambs making as far as €4.47/kg for a pen of 32kg ewe lambs that made €143/head”.
Windrum said: “We had a very good clearance in the sale and there is good demand from exporters for the good-quality ewe lambs weighing from 33-40kg.”
There were four nice Dorset ewe lambs in the sale that made €260/head and were bought for breeding.”
Other prices from the sale:
The auctioneer said the there is “great confidence in the trade at the moment” from farmers, factory agents, exporters and wholesalers alike for their choice purchases.
Breeding ewes made from €285-310/head for in-lamb ewes while fat ewes made as far as €262/head for the best of them.
The final general sheep sale of the year at Carnaross Mart will take place on Wednesday, December 18.
The 2024 North East Texel Twilight Sale will take place on Friday, December 27, with viewing from 4:00p.m and the sale is set to kick off at 6:00p.m.