Pics from the mart: Hoggets top out €140/head at Loughrea

A strong yard of sheep was met with an easier trade at Loughrea Mart on Thursday last (January 21).

The trade at many marts this week seems to be back in comparison to last week, with factories trying their best to keep prices from lifting further.

At Loughrea on Thursday, hoggets sold up to a top price of €140/head, which was back from the €151/head achieved at the previous week’s sale.

In general, hoggets in excess of 50kg sold from €131/head up to €139/head. Furthermore, lots weighing 47-49kg generally traded from €128/head up to €132/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.

: Sale toppers: This pen of 53kg hoggets sold for €140/head

: This pen of crossbred lambs weighing 47kg sold for €129/head

: Another pen of heavy hoggets weighing 53kg sold for €138/head

Hoggets weighing 45-46kg made from €120/head up to €127/head, while hoggets in the 40-44kg bracket generally traded from €111/head up to €116/head.

Sample hogget prices:

14 at 47.4kg sold for €130/head or €2.74/kg;
10 at 55kg sold for €139/head or €2.52/kg;
Three at 48.6kg sold for €129/head or €2.65/kg;
Five at 41.4kg sold for €111/head or €2.68/kg;
10 at 43.6kg sold for €114/head or €2.61/kg;
Three at 49kg sold for €132/head or €2.69/kg;
19 at 46.6kg sold for €127/head or €2.72/kg;
Two at 45kg sold for €126/head or €2.80/kg.

: These two 42kg stores sold for €113/head

: This pen of 45.5kg hoggets sold for €120/head

: These 50.3kg hoggets went under the hammer at €133/head

: These 47.8kg hoggets were snapped up at €131/head

: These 40kg stores sold at €116/head

: These 54kg hoggets sold for €136/head

Two pens of ewes with lambs at foot were on offer on Thursday. Both lots contained ewes with single lambs at foot and sold for €190/unit and €192/unit respectively.

These ewes with single lambs at foot sold for €190/unit

Lastly, there was very little appetite for cull ewes, with a good pen of heavy well fleshed ewes only being bid to €107/head and going unsold. At last week’s sale, heavy ewes sold up to €124/head.