Sheep marts: Light stores an easier trade across many marts

Over the past week, many mart managers have noted a fewer amount of long-keep store lambs being presented for sale, with the trade for these types easier by €2-3/head.

Light stores in the 28-33kg mark, which have been selling for well in excess of €80/head for well-presented lowland-bred lambs for much of the year, have eased back and are now selling back to €74-78/head at many marts over the last seven days.

Good-quality light stores, however, continue to sell strongly, with prices reaching in excess of €85/head for 32-33kg lambs. Mountain-bred stores have generally been selling for €50-70/head – depending on quality.

Forward store lambs remain a good trade, with 39-42kg lambs continuing to sell well in excess of €100/head and prices of up to €110-116/head have been reported at marts for clean, well-presented lambs.

35-38kg lambs continue to sell anywhere from €88/head up to €96-100/head, in general.

Factory lambs weighing 46-48kg continue to sell from €123/head up to €127/head, with slightly lighter lambs (44-45) selling from €115/head up to €120-122/head.

Heavy cull ewes continue to sell to highs of €120-130/head.

Dowra Mart

Dowra Mart held its final sheep sale of 2020 on Friday last (December 18). It was a very big sale according to the mart’s manager, Terry McGovern, with 1,410 sheep sold on the day.

There was a strong entry of factory lambs and they were met with an improved trade of €2-4/head on the previous week.

Heavy butcher lambs topped out at €133.50/head for a pen of lambs weighing 52.5kg. Factory lambs made up to €126.50/head.

Terry noted that light store lambs were a slightly easier trade of about €2/head. Forward store lambs were reported to be much the same as the previous week, with the trade holding well for those types. Online buyers were aplenty for those well-presented store lambs.

Carnew Mart

Carnew’s David Quinn reported a large entry of sheep at last Thursday’s weekly sale. In total, 2,872 sheep were on offer with the trade reported to be similar to the previous week.

Butcher and factory lambs continued to be in strong demand at the Wicklow-based mart. Heavy lambs sold up to €131/head, while factory lambs made up to €125/head.

Forward store lambs, similar to what is being seen at other marts, were a flying trade, with 42kg lambs making up to €116/head last Thursday.

Light stores were also a solid trade, with long-keep lambs weighing 32kg selling for €88/head. Cull ewes sold from €75/head for feeding-types up to €125/head for heavy, well-fleshed ewes.