Carnew Mart held its biggest sale of sheep of the year on Thursday (August 25) with over 4,800 sheep on offer.
The mart’s yard manager, Eugene Clune, said that the sheep sale saw a very solid trade resulting in a full clearance.
Heavy lambs sold up to €148/head. Factory lambs in the 43-46kg weight bracket sold sold between €125/head and €130/head, while lambs of this weight but more classed as forward stores sold between €118 and €125.
Store lambs, Eugene said, were a very solid trade on the day, with lots of demand from farmers. Lambs between 35-40kg traded between €95/head and €110/head, with some ewe lamb prices reaching up to €125/head for lambs weighing 36-37kg.
Lighter stores weighing less than 35kg sold mainly from €80/head to €95/head, with some lighter well-presented pens meeting a very lively trade, for example 33kg making €96/head.
Heavy ewes sold to €186/head and feeding ewes were a solid trade too.
In the brood ring, many more customers were around this week Eugene said. Hogget ewes sold for between €160/head and €210/head, with most selling for between €180/head and €200/head.
Older breeding ewes moved at prices ranging from €100/head to €160/head, with a nice pen of three and four-year-old ewes selling to €180/head.
Good-quality young rams sold to €560 for a top-quality Suffolk ram lamb.