On Saturday, November 13, Agriland made the trip to Headford Mart to take in the trade at the Galway-based mart’s weekly sale of sheep.
Supplies of all types of lambs and ewes were extremely tight and this meant a lively trade was seen across the board.
Looking at the trade for those heavy lambs, factory agents were met with stiff competition from farmer for heavy ewe lambs which saw prices reach a high of €162/head for a nice pen of 48kg ewe lambs.
Prices for those finished lambs ranged from €142/head up to €150/head in general. Forward stores with a good cover of flesh, which were highly sought after by factory agents as well, sold from €131/head up to €135/head.
Moreover, lighter lambs weighing from 34kg up to 37kg traded from €92/head for Scottish Blackface ewe lambs up to €120/head for better-quality lowland bred lambs.
A small section of store cull ewes were on offer and sold up to €80/head.
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.
Mart auctioneer’s view
After the sale, Agriland spoke to the mart’s auctioneer, Niall Murphy, to get his views on the trade.
He said: “There was a brisk trade there today at Headford Mart. There’s great interest for those ewe lambs from farmers and if you have a fed lamb there’s a great demand for them from the factory agents.
“Supplies of finished lambs are tight as you could see there today. Store lambs then are a fierce strong trade, both for forward and lighter types.
“It’s been a great year so far for lamb prices and hopefully it continues.”
