Prices: Heavy lambs hit €127/head at Enniscorthy Mart

A flying trade for finished and forward store lambs was seen at Enniscorthy Mart on Wednesday (November 18).

AgriLand tuned into the sale and, similar to other marts this past week, prices for heavy, well-fleshed lambs were strong, with prices topping out at €127/head.

Factory lambs in the 43-48kg were also great trade, with prices for these lots breaking the €120/head mark on occasion.

Also Read: 'Sharp, short sale' sees lambs reach €128/head at Kilkenny Mart

Forward store lambs in the 39-42kg bracket were also a smashing trade, with one particular pen of 10 lambs weighing 42kg selling for €116/head.

Butcher lambs

Butcher lambs, as has been the case for the past few weeks, were a great trade, with 49kg+ lambs selling in excess of €120/head every time.

There wasn’t a huge amount of those heavy lambs on offer, which again has been the case across many marts and this helped the trade at Enniscorthy on Wednesday.

Sample butcher lamb prices:

Two lambs weighing 52kg sold for €125/hed or €2.40/kg;
Four lambs weighing 50kg sold for €122/head or €2.44/kg;
Eight lambs weighing 55kg sold for €124/head or €2.25/kg;
Nine lambs weighing 49kg sold for €121/head or €2.46/kg;
Eight lambs weighing 54kg sold for €127/head or €2.35/kg;
12 lambs weighing 53kg sold for €125/head or €2.36/kg.

Factory lambs

A strong proportion of the sheep on offer at Enniscorthy Mart consisted of factory-type lambs weighing 43-48kg.

Prices for factory lambs ranged from €104/head up to €122/head, with one or two lots lacking flesh selling as far back as €97/head.

Bidding was fierce for these factory lambs with exceptional lots breaking the €120/head mark on occasion. However, similar to other marts, many of these lambs sold from €108-118/head.

Sample factory lamb prices:

Five lambs weighing 48kg sold for €122/head or €2.54/kg;
10 lambs weighing 48kg sold for €119/head or €2.47/kg;
20 lambs weighing 46kg sold for €121/head or €2.63/kg;
10 lambs weighing 43kg sold for €110/head or €2.55/kg;
22 lambs weighing 47kg sold for €114/head or €2.43/kg;
Three lambs weighing 47kg sold for €116/head or €2.46/kg;
Seven lambs weighing 43kg sold for €104/head or €2.41/kg.

Store lambs

A strong showing of store lambs were also presented for sale, with forward store lambs, in particular, catching the eye.

38-42kg lambs were in strong demand with prices of €97/head up to €106/head being achieved for these lots. In some cases, the bidding got fierce between some buyers and this led to pens of lambs weighing 40-41kg selling up to €116/head.

Lighter stores in the 34-37kg bracket generally sold from €88/head up to €93/head with select lots, particularly ewe lambs, selling closer to the €100/head mark.

Those long-term keep stores were also fiercely sought after and, in some cases, big money was exchanged for lambs weighing 32-33kg.

One particular pen of lambs weighing 33kg sold for €96/head, while a pen of lambs weighing 31kg sold for €91/head.

In general, those long-keep stores sold from €76/head up to €90/head.

Sample store lamb prices: