The positivity around the sheep trade continues this week, with spring lambs reaching a top price of €211/head at Kilkenny Mart this morning (Monday, March 29).
The mart’s auctioneer, George Candler, reported a booming trade for spring lambs, with prices ranging from €170/head up to a high of €211/head.
The top price was paid for a pen of 43kg lambs, with that price closely followed by another pen of heavier lambs at 47kg that sold for €209/head.
The trade for hoggets was back at Kilkenny on last week, although still very strong George noted, with prices hitting a high of€175/head.
Cull ewe trade continues to improve
The cull ewe trade continues to go from strength to strength at marts with prices for heavy ewes last week reaching highs of €180-198/head.
At last Thursday’s (March 25) sheep sale at Carnew, David Quinn reported a top price of €198/head for heavy cull ewes, with prices for those well-fleshed ewes ranging from €150/head up to €198/head.
Similarly, on Saturday (March 27), a strong trade was seen at Mountbellew Mart for cull ewes, with a top price of €188 seen for one 113.5kg ewe.
Over the past week, those fleshed, good-quality 90kg plus ewes have been moving at prices of €150/head up to €170/head at many sales with even 85-89kg ewes selling upwards of €130/head , while exceptionally heavy fleshed ewes have been selling upwards of €170/head.