The trade across sheep marts for finished hoggets has remained steady throughout the week, with prices rarely breaking the €160/head mark.
If anything, the brightest trade has been seen for stores, cull ewes and ewes with lambs at foot this past week.
Looking at the trade for hoggets first, prices for hoggets in excess of 50kg have generally been moving at prices of €150-158/head – while select lots have risen to €160-162/head.
Butchers and factory agents have been competing for well-fleshed hoggets and as such, have pushed prices for certain hoggets up to and above €160/head.
Hoggets in the 45-49kg weight bracket have generally been moving at prices of, at and above €143-145/head, and reaching as high as €158-159/head for well-fleshed lots in the 48-49kg weight bracket.
From looking in this week, factory agents have remained quite bullish in what they have been willing to pay, but so to have sellers. This resistance from both (buyers and sellers), has seen the trade hold steady across the week as factory prices held.
Moving on to the store trade, numbers are small across marts in general, with forward store numbers in bigger supply compared to their lighter counterparts.
These forward stores are commanding a strong price, especially those that will do a quick thrive, with prices from what I’ve seen this week reaching €3.25/kg and selling back to €2.90/kg in general.
Long keep stores, for the few that have been at marts, have also been good trade, with farmers keen on snapping up any nice ewe lambs in the 33-36kg weight bracket.
The word from many mart managers in recent weeks is that the demand for ewes is strong and as such, they are a good trade – but there isn’t enough of them coming through sale rings to satisfy demand.
However, in this past week alone, some mart managers have noted entries of cull ewes increasing.
Prices for well-fleshed ewes remain in the main from €145/head up to €170/head. Ewes weighing 95kg plus have pushed prices to €200/head this week.
70-80kg ewes have generally been selling from €120/head up to €140-145/head. Scottish Blackface ewes have sold back to €1.00/kg.
In-lamb ewes, for the most part – except for special entries – have been a sluggish trade. Top prices at sales this past week have mainly been from €180/head up to €200/head, and back as far as €135/head for lowland-bred ewes.
Meanwhile, prices of €80/head up to €120/head have been seen for in-lamb, hill-bred ewes.
Lastly, a very good trade is currently being seen for ewes with lambs at foot. Prices have generally been starting from €150-160/head for aged ewes with single lambs at foot, right up to €350/head for ewes with two lambs at foot.
Again, similar to fleshed ewes, so far there hasn’t been enough ewes with lambs coming through to satisfy demand at marts.
