Lamb prices have remained steady over the last several weeks as processors continue to seek out well-fleshed lambs.
The supply of sheep this year is currently running 184,822 head behind last year, which is a 10% drop in numbers.
With 76,437 fewer spring lambs slaughtered this year, base prices have remained at over €7/kg since the beginning of August.
While sales for breeding sheep and rams are in full swing, lamb sales at marts across the country are being met with a strong buyer demand.
Last week at Carnew Mart, 3,867 sheep were sold at the weekly sale. There was very strong farmer demand ringside for stores, while online sales took the lead for the more forward heavier type of sheep.
In Dowra Mart last week, just over 2,200 sheep sold at the sale, where fat lambs reached €167 for 21 lambs weighing 54.5kg.
A recent sale at Loughrea Co-operative Mart Ltd showed that lambs with flesh continue to be a “fine strong trade” with tops of a sale earlier this month hitting €170 for 54kg.
Cull ewe numbers were small but there was reportedly a “strong trade”, with breeding sheep continuing “to sell extremely well”.
According to sheep specialist at Teagasc, Ciaran Lynch, in terms of demand, “lambs are not as forward as previous years”.
He said this will “increase the demand in the latter half of the season and needs to be considered when budgeting grass for the coming weeks”.
Farms where the overall grass supply is below target should examine options for reducing demand early in September.
Lynch said this may be achieved by removing remaining culls, selling a proportion of lambs as stores or other livestock, and introducing supplementation in order to prioritise grazing for the remaining finishing lambs and ewe flock.
Spring lambs
This week, Irish Country Meats (ICM) is offering €7.00/kg plus a 20c quality assurance (QA) bonus, bringing its offering to €7.20/kg up to a 22kg carcass weight for a spring lamb – the same price as last week.
Other outlets have offered €7.05/kg plus a QA bonus of 15c/kg, a total of €7.20/kg for a spring lamb.
Cull ewes
Some processors are offering €3.80/kg plus a 10c/kg QA bonus for ewes weighing from 35kg to 43kg, and €3.30/kg plus a 10c/kg QA bonus for ewes weighing from 23kg to 35kg.
Other processors have reduced their offerings for ewes by 10c/kg this week and are paying €3.70/kg for ewes.
This processor is also offering €2.90/kg for ewes that are weighing under 20/kg.