Pics: Early signs look positive as ewe hoggets top €234 at Enniscorthy

Although it’s still early in the year, marts in recent weeks have noted small entries of breeding ewe hoggets and the feedback from mart managers regarding demand and prices has been really positive.

On Wednesday (June 16) Enniscorthy Mart welcomed a special entry of 60 breeding ewe hoggets, which were met with a very strong trade.

The mart’s assistant manager Kevin Murphy was on hand to watch over the trade and take some pictures of some standout lots on offer.

Speaking to Agriland after the sale, he said: “We had a special entry of breeding ewe hoggets on offer – which saw 60 head in total on offer.

“These ewe hoggets were met with massive interest from online bidders in particular, with the vast majority of the eight lots being sold online.

“It was a great start to the breeding sales, with hoggets ranging from €214/head up to a top price of €234/head for a nice pen of speckled-faced ewe hoggets.

“A pen of Texels made €220/head, while a nice pen of Suffolks’ made €224/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.

‘Plenty of farmer interest for nice store lambs’

Speaking about the trade seen during the general sale of sheep on Wednesday, Kevin added: “We had a much bigger sheep sale this week; numbers took a big jump, with more finished lambs and a bigger number of store lambs on offer.

“Overall, the trade was really outstanding for the time of the year. The cull ewes, in particular were on fire, selling up to a top price of €194 on the day.

“There are more and more finished lambs appearing each week, but it hasn’t affected the trade as lambs held steady on last week’s prices – despite the bigger numbers.

“The heavier lambs or butcher-type lambs continue to sell very well with local butchers buying the bulk of these lambs, with prices ranging from 102 to 109 over the kg.”

Sample heavy lamb prices:

• Four at 50kg sold for €159/head;
• 23 at 50kg sold for €156/head;
• Nine at 53kg sold for €153/head;
• 13 at 48kg lambs sold for €151/head;
• 12 at 48kg lambs sold for €150/head.

“The factory-finished lambs ranged from €137/head for six lambs at 40kg, up to €151/head for five lambs at 45kg.”

Sample factory lamb prices:

• Five at 45kg sold for €151/head;
• 11 at 46kg sold for €148/head;
• 26 at 45kg sold for €149/head;
• 33 at 44kg sold for €148/head;
• 15 at 47kg sold for €148/head;
• 12 at 42kg sold for €140/head;
• 17 at 44kg sold for €144/head;
• Six at 40kg sold for €137/head.

Speaking about the store lamb trade, Kevin added: “We are seeing decent numbers of store lambs coming to market and plenty of farmers are looking to buy nice store lambs.

“They ranged on the day from €105/head for 15 lambs at 35kg, up to €132/head for four lambs weighing 39kg.

Sample store lamb prices:

• Four at 39kg sold for €132/head;
• Six at 38kg sold for €131/head;
• Four at 38kg sold for €124/head;
• 13 at 37kg sold for €118/head;
• 10 at 36kg sold for €106/head;
• 15 at 35kg sold for €105/head.

Cull ewes top €194/head

Commenting on the cull ewe trade, Kevin added: “There was a good entry of cull ewes on the day which saw a massive lift in price.

“There were some top-quality, heavy cull ewes on offer and the trade was on fire for these lots. The store ewes also saw a massive lift.”

Sample heavy cull ewe prices:

• One 120kg ewe sold for €194/head;
• Seven at 113kg sold for €192/head;
• 13 at 99kg sold for €179/head;
• Five at 90kg sold for €165/head;
• Three at 95kg sold for €163/head;
• Two at 82kg sold for €146/head.

Sample store cull ewe prices:

• Six at 77kg sold for €130/head;
• Six at 81kg sold for €120/head;
• 13 at 67kg sold for €120/head;
• Two at 60kg sold for €120/head.