Agriland paid a visit to Loughrea Mart recently (April 14) to cast an eye over the sheep sale and what was on offer to farmers on the day.
There was a strong turnout of cull ewes, with the rest of the sheep consisting of hoggets, as well as some spring lambs.
On the day in Loughrea, a noticeable lack of bite was seen for spring lambs by both butchers and factory agents, with the cull ewes and hoggets taking the limelight.
Click on a thumbnail in the gallery (below) to open up a full-size image. Once opened, you can scroll sideways to see the next picture. Refer to each caption to see details of each lot, including the hammer price.
Looking at the trade a little closer, and starting with the cull ewes, prices topped €223 for a 112kg ewe, while prices for ewes weighing in excess of 100kg generally selling from €200/head up to €219/head.
The 90-95kg lots sold from just over €160/head up to just over the €180/head mark.
Ewes weighing 80-89kg made from €157/head up to €172/head with one ewe at 88.6kg breaking this trend by topping out at €214. The 70-70kg ewes traded from just over €120/head up to near the €150/head mark.
Hoggets on offer consisted mainly of finished types, along with a handful of stores.
Looking at those finished types, prices generally ranged from €160/head to €168/head.
Stores sold from €120/head up to €127/head for 40-41.5kg hoggets.
Spring lambs were a tough sell on the day and made from €120/head for 36kg lambs, up to €168/head for 50kg lambs.