This week's sheep trade has seen processors move to announce their opening spring lamb prices for the season, with hogget price up 20c/kg on last Monday while cull ewe prices have risen by 10c/kg at some outlets.

Hogget quotes of €9.00/kg have been tabled this week, with some factory agents informing Agriland that €9.20-9.30/kg is available at the higher-end of the price scale this week.

Factories have opened spring lamb price quotes at €9.40-9.50/kg for Quality Assured (QA) lambs, with some outlets paying up to 20.5kg carcass weight for spring lambs with others paying up to 21kg carcass weight.

This week, Irish Country Meats (ICM) is quoting €5.00/kg for cull ewes. The processor is quoting €8.80 plus a 20c/kg QA bonus for hoggets, leaving €9.00/kg on offer here up to 23kg.

ICM is quoting €9.30/kg plus a 20c/kg QA bonus for spring lambs, leaving €9.50/kg on offer here up to 21kg carcass weight.

Kepak is quoting €5.00-5.10/kg for cull ewes. The outlet is quoting €9.00/kg for hoggets up to 23kg and €9.35 plus a 15c/kg QA bonus for spring lambs, leaving €9.50/kg on offer here up to 21kg carcass weight.

Kildare Chilling is quoting €5.30 plus a 10c/kg QA bonus for top-end cull ewes and has no official quote for hoggets this week.

Kildare Chilling is quoting €9.30 plus a 10c/kg QA bonus for spring lambs, leaving €9.40/kg on offer here up to 20.5kg.

Ballon Meats in Co. Carlow is quoting €5.50/kg for cull ewes and €8.80/kg for hoggets.

There was a larger showing of sheep on Saturday, March 28, at Dowra Mart in Co. Cavan with a particularly large number of factory hoggets on offer in the sale.

According to a trade report from the mart venue, hogget prices were up €5-10/head with factory hogget prices topping out at €231/head for six hoggets weighing 59kg.

Trade remained steady for store hoggets in comparison to last week, despite a smaller entry with the store hogget trade topping out at €160/head for four hoggets weighing 41kg.