Sheep Ireland held its annual multi-breed ram sale last weekend (August 27) at Tullamore Mart.
This was the “largest-ever catalogued ram sale in Ireland” according to the society, and had high entry criteria set.
“This year’s sale had the highest levels of entry criteria ever needed to enter a ram sale, making the collection of rams and breeders on the day amongst the most elite in the country,” the society said.
The sale had an overall clearance of 87%, slightly up on 2021 when the sale cleared 84%.
The average price across all nine breeds on the day was €664, up €46 from the 2021 average of €618. Rams were sold to all 26 counties.
A statement after the sale from Sheep Ireland said: “The level of engagement from the breeders who entered this sale was fantastic.
“Breeders had a lot of hurdles to cross before entering a ram in this sale, and commercial farmers are rewarding them for this.
“More and more commercial farmers are demanding top-quality, physically correct rams with excellent breeding values (Euro-Stars) to back it up.
“Each year the number of pedigree breeders’ performance recording is increasing and each year the number of commercial farmers searching for Euro-Stars before they purchase is also rising.
“All this bodes well for the sheep industry, and Sheep Ireland intends to keep this positive trend on the rise for next year.”
Sheep Ireland added that it is “very happy” with the average clearance and prices.
“This shows a good balance between the supply of rams at the sale and the demand to buy them,” it said.