On Wednesday, August 9, Agriland made the trip to Roscommon Mart’s weekly sale of sheep, that saw over 1,100 head on offer.
After the sale, we caught up with the mart’s manager, Maura Quigley, to get her thoughts on the trade.
She said: “We had a strong entry of sheep here at Roscommon, with just over 1,100 head on offer.
“There was a near full clearance, with just a few light store lambs not being sold. Finished lambs were a similar trade to last week and made up to €135/head for lambs over 50kg.
“Again, there was a lively trade for store lambs, with some very good prices seen.
“We saw a good entry of ewe lambs which were met with strong farmer interest – which saw prices hit over €3.00/kg. The top price seen was €137/head for a nice pen of Suffolk ewe lambs weighing 42.5kg [pictured below].
“Moving onto the cull ewes, prices topped €176/head for heavy lots, with a couple of pens of ewes suitable for breeding also attracting the interest of farmers and selling well.
“All in all, the trade is going well and our opening breeding sale last Saturday saw a very good trade, with prices for hoggets hitting a top of €270/head. So it [the sheep trade] is very positive overall,” the manager concluded.