The sheep trade has seen prices fall across the board this week, with spring lamb dropping by up to 65c/kg, and some factories not providing quotes for lambs.
It will come as a further disappointment to farmers who had been anticipating the arrival of the Muslim festival Eid al-Adha last week, which did not live up to the expectations for those in the sheep trade.
With less demand for spring lambs and hoggets this week, farmers are hoping for an improvement in prices for output.
Sheep trade – hoggets
Irish Country Meats (ICM) is quoting €6.00/kg plus a 20c/kg Quality Assurance (QA) bonus for hoggets this week, bringing its offering to €6.20/kg up to a 23kg carcass weight.
Demand for hoggets was low from factories this week, with Kildare Chilling providing no quote.
It was reported last week that while the hogget supply is dropping, it is remaining well above last year’s levels due to a high carryover of last year’s lamb crop.
Spring lamb
Over 55,000 spring lambs were slaughtered in week 25 of this year, but the overall spring lamb kill to date this year is down by nearly 32,000 head or 12%.
This is reflected in the decrease in demand from factories, with Kildare Chilling providing no quote for spring lambs this week.
Other outlets have quoted €7.00 plus a 15c/kg QA bonus for a spring lamb.
ICM is quoting €7.10/kg plus a 20c/kg QA bonus, paying up to 21kg for a spring lamb, making its total this week €7.30/kg.
Cull ewes
Kildare Chilling is quoting €3.30/kg plus a 10c/kg QA bonus up to 43kg carcass weight, offering a total of €3.40/kg for a ewe this week, reducing its price by 10c/kg since last week.
ICM is quoting €3.00/kg for ewes up to 45kg, seeing a 10c/kg drop from last week’s price; other outlets have followed suit by offering this price too.