It has been a tough few weeks for sheep farmers right across the country, with factory prices for all types of stock plummeting.

However, going by reports and the quotes that are on offer, there seems to be a bit more bite entering the trade, with factories supposedly keen on getting their hands on anything they can get.

Prices for spring lambs, hoggets and ewes seem to have increased over the last few days, which is welcome news for farmers.

However, the quality of the hoggets that are being presented to the factory seems to be a problem. There are reports of “very mixed” end-of-the-line sheep coming in. This, in turn, seems to have put off factories quoting for these types over the last fortnight.

Last week, quotes were hard to come by, with some sheep processing facilities cancelling scheduled kills and prices for hoggets dropping back to as much as €5.00/kg.

Although this week, quotes seem to have recovered for hoggets, with reports of factories going toe-to-toe to try and source good-quality hoggets, with prices of up to €5.90/kg being reported. However, in general, farmers involved in producer groups are getting up to €5.70/kg for hoggets.

At the moment, spring lamb quotes are hovering around the €6.00/kg mark, with reports of farmers getting as much €6.40/kg in places. This is far from the €7.00/kg that farmers would have been hoping to get – at the very least.

However, like the hoggets, prices for these seem to have recovered somewhat, with factories quoting between 250c/kg and 270c/kg for well-fleshed ewes.

Irish Country Meats (ICM) was not quoting for hoggets on Monday, April 6. Furthermore, Kepak Athleague was not quoting for spring lambs, hoggets or ewes on Monday, April 6.

ICM (Monday quote) is offering a base price of 600c/kg + 10c/kg quality assurance (QA) for spring lambs.

Kildare Chilling (Monday quote) is offering a base price of 590c/kg + 10c/kg QA for spring lambs.

In terms of hoggets, Kildare Chilling (Monday quote) is offering 540c/kg + 10c/kg QA.

Finally, ICM and Kildare Chilling (Monday quote) are offering 250c/kg and 270c/kg + 10c/kg QA respectively for cast ewes.

During the week ending March 29, the number of hoggets processed decreased by 9,077 head and amounted to 41,089 head.

Cast (ewe and ram) supplies at the Department of Agriculture approved sheep export plants stood at 4,575 head – a decrease of 989 head – for the week ending March 29.

Furthermore, overall supplies decreased by 10,068 head during the week ending March 29.

Cumulative figures for the year to date have reached 652,660 head, which is an increase of over 90,000 head compared to the 2019 figure of 561,893 head.