It has been a tough week on the sheep mart front, with prices coming back by up to €7/head.
Factory cuts to lamb prices quickly filtered down to the mart trade early in the week and this continued very much so throughout, as lamb quotes continued to fall.
Sheep prices at marts have fallen, depending on when the sale was held, anywhere from €2-7/head. Prices rarely hit €150/head or more at sales, particularly as the week progressed for heavy lambs.
The general run of prices for finished lambs ranged from €125/head up to €145/head this week, with heavy lambs at or over 50kg generally trading from €135/head upwards.
46-49kg lots traded from €125-135/head in the main.
As a result of finished lamb prices easing, the store lamb trade has taken a knock, with prices ranging from €100/head up to €120/head, with many moving from €105-115/head.
The trade for light lambs remains sticky, as has been the case for a while now, with a big variation in prices. Lowland-bred types have been moving from €60-90/head for lambs in the 33-37kg weight bracket.
Hill-bred and more cross-bred types have been selling as low as €40/head for 28-30kg lambs and up to €60-70/head for lambs in the low- to mid-30kg weight range.
The ewe trade remains steady overall, with factory prices remaining unchanged for some time now.
Heavy ewes continue to sell from €125/head up to €160/head, with some lots selling above this range in cases too, which is confined to 90kg plus ewes.
Store ewes have been selling from €60/head up to €120/head in general across marts this past week.