A small showing of spring lambs was met with a strong trade at Blessington Mart this week, with prices reaching a high of €176/head.

A vibrant trade was also seen for cull ewes, which saw prices break €200/head once again. Hogget numbers just about reached double digits, with the trade largely unchanged from last week.

A strong showing of ewes with lambs at-foot was met with firm demand from farmers and sold up to a high of €310/unit.

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 for spring lambs first, prices were up €6/head on last week.

Prices ranged from €147/head for 39kg lambs up to a top of €176/head for 51.7lkg lambs.

Furthermore, hoggets ranged in price generally from €140/head up to €168/head. Cull ewes were a brisk trade with prices breaching €200 on more than one occasion.

A strong entry of ewes with lambs at foot was also seen, with a good mix of ewes with young and older lambs.

Prices ranged from ewes with broken mouths with single lambs at foot from €130/unit up to €310/unit for two hogget ewes with four young lambs at foot.