A smaller sale of sheep was reported at Kilkenny Mart on Monday (October 19), with just over 400 sheep on offer.
The mart’s auctioneer, George Candler, reported that numbers were smaller, but that this lead to a firm, if not, slightly stronger trade than the previous week.
George noted that butcher, factory and store lambs were in particularly high demand. On the day, butcher lambs made up to €118/head and generally traded from €110/head up to €117/head.
Sample butcher lamb prices:
- 12 lambs weighing 60kg sold for €118/head or €1.97/kg;
- 11 lambs weighing 55kg sold for €118/head or €2.15/kg;
- 10 lambs weighing 52kg sold for €117/head or €2.25/kg;
- 17 lambs weighing 50kg sold for €110/head or €2.20/kg.
Moving onto factory-type lambs, these lots sold up to a top call of €112/head. In general, lambs weighing between 42kg and 47kg sold from €102/head up to €112/head.
Sample factory-fit lamb prices:
- 15 lambs weighing 47kg sold for €112/head or €2.38/kg;
- 10 lambs weighing 46kg sold for €106/head or €2.30/kg;
- 10 lambs weighing 44kg sold for €104/head or €2.36/kg;
- 25 lambs weighing 42kg sold for €102/head or €2.43/kg.
Once again, store lambs were a strong trade, with stores topping out at €2.67/kg for lambs weighing 36kg. In general, prices for these lots ranged from €85/head for lambs weighing 34kg up to €95/head for lambs weighing 40kg.
Sample store lamb prices:
- 10 lambs weighing 40kg sold for €95/head or €2.38/kg;
- 25 lambs weighing 37kg sold for €90/head or €2.43/kg;
- 11 lambs weighing 36kg sold for €96/head or €2.67/kg;
- 10 lambs weighing 34kg sold for €85/head or €2.50/kg.
George added that cull ewe numbers were back, which helped to create a good selling trade. On Monday, cast ewes traded from €45/head for feeding ewes up to a tops of €127/head for heavy, well-fleshed ewes.