An improved trade was seen at Athenry Mart on Monday, February 8, for finished hoggets in comparison to the previous week.

AgriLand made the trip to the Galway-based mart on Monday, to see what the trade was like. The majority of the hoggets on offer consisted of factory and butcher-types, while a very strong showing of heavy cull ewes was seen.

Looking at those heavy hoggets in excess of 50kg, there was quite a bit of variation in prices, with those lacking a bit of flesh selling for €137-141/head mainly, while those with a better flesh cover sold from €146/head up to €153/head.

47-49kg hoggets generally traded from €130/head up to €135/head. The few pens of hoggets weighing 45-46kg sold from €124/head up to €129/head, with one exceptional pen making up to €134/head.

Prices for hoggets in the 42-44kg ranged from €110/head up to €123/head. There were very few stores under 40kg on offer; however, the few that were there started from €80/head for 31kg hoggets up to €109/head for 39kg stores.

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.

Cull ewes

There was a fine selection of cull ewes, both heavy and store types, on offer at Monday’s sale, with numbers on offer significantly up from the previous week.

Some of those well-fleshed ewes on offer were brought forward for sale by farmers as they had scanned empty.

Looking at those well-fleshed ewes, the trade was strong, with prices for these types ranging from €120/head up to €142/head; although, the bulk of these lots sold from €131/head up to €139/head.

Forward-feeding ewes generally traded from €96/head up to €115/head, with store ewes selling back to €44/head.