Sheep
This time of the year, farmers traditionally begin to move out in larger numbers to buy store lambs...
Sheep News
One of the main talking points of the current sheep trade is the strong prices available for cull ewes with "up to €6/kg being paid".
Continued positivity in the sheep trade sees up to €7.80/kg available in cases at the higher-end of the price scale at...
There's little price change to report from marts this week, with lamb and ewe prices mostly holding to the previous week's levels.
Agri-Business
"Extremely tight supplies" are driving lamb trade at present, the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA)...
Competition for lambs is driving the sheep trade at present, according to the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA).
Lamb prices have continued to rise this week, with suitable lambs in scarce supply, according to the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA).
Although the spring lamb trade appears to be strengthening, factory buyers are slow to raise base quotes.
After showing some signs of stability last week and in the early stages of this week, factories have moved to knock 5-10c/kg of spring lamb base quotes.
Spring lamb producers are facing into another challenging week as quotes have eased by a further 10c/kg.
As has been the case over recent weeks, the spring lamb trade continues to remain challenging and processors have imposed further price cuts.
After a week of price increases, farmers remain firmly in the driving seat when it comes to hogget prices this week.
Base lamb quotes have risen by 10-20c/kg this week, despite the confusion currently surrounding the Clean Livestock Policy (CLP) for sheep.
Just over 100,000 Northern Irish (NI) lambs have been slaughtered in sheepmeat plants in the Republic of Ireland since early September.
The country is currently grasped by a cold spell. However, the wintry conditions of late have yet to put a chill on lamb prices.
The lamb trade continues to remain buoyant this week and prices of €5/kg are widely available for factory fit lambs.
The Irish lamb trade is experiencing what can only be described as a hangover following the Muslim festival of Eid-al-Adha.
Farmers have been urged to be careful when drafting lambs, as kill out percentages have plummeted in recent weeks.
Spring lamb sees a drop in prices this week, with some processors quoting a decrease of up to 30c/kg on the previous week.
Despite the doom and gloom surrounding the lamb factory trade last week, tight supplies look to be working in the farmers' favour.
Becoming all too common of a trend, the now annual spring lamb price drops seems to have truly taken hold of the market.
Current weight and price pressure on lambs have left hogget finishers very frustrated, according to IFA National Sheep Chairman John Lynskey.
Lamb supplies are tighter this week, but factories are willing to pay a little extra for quality, according to the IFA's John Lynskey.
