As prices for spring lamb continue to drop, factories are urging farmers to bring heavier lambs for processing, as lighter lambs are becoming an issue.
The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) sheep chairperson, Sean McNamara, said there is “a lot of lambs coming in underweight”.
The prices this week, according to McNamara, were not enough to make sure lambs could be fed meal to get them to the required weight.
“You can’t feed them on that sort of money,” he said.
In an effort to bring heavier lambs to the factory, Irish Country Meats (ICM) has raised its carcass weights from 21.5kg to 22kg for spring lambs.
ICM general manager James Smyth said: “We have problems with underfleshed, light lambs.
“On one hand people are afraid to go over 21.5kg so we moved to 22kg. On the other side, the kill-out percentage for lambs is very varied.”
ICM is asking farmers to be “very careful” regarding the weight of the lambs they are bringing to the factory.
Sheep trade – spring lamb
ICM is offering €6.00/kg plus a 20c quality assurance (QA) bonus, bringing its offering to €6.20/kg up to a 22kg carcass weight for a spring lamb, the price dropping by 30c/kg since last week.
Kildare Chilling is not quoting for spring lambs this week.
Other outlets have offered €6.00/kg plus a QA bonus of 15c/kg, a total of €6.15/kg for a spring lamb, a price reduction of 30c/kg since last week.
Hoggets
ICM is quoting €4.80/kg plus a QA bonus of 20c up to 23kg for hoggets, a total of €5.00/kg and a reduction of €1/kg since last week.
Kildare Chilling is not quoting for hoggets this week, but other outlets have offered €5.00/kg for a hogget.
Cull ewes
ICM has still maintained its price at €2.90/kg up to 45kg, while other outlets have offered €2.70/kg for a cull ewe.
Kildare Chilling is not quoting for cull ewes this week.