A “surprisingly” small yard of sheep was presented for sale at Athenry Mart yesterday, Monday (November 2); however, this led to a flying trade for heavy lambs.

AgriLand tuned into the online selling trading platform MartEye to see what the trade was like on the day and then spoke to the mart’s manager, Brian Hogan, after the sale to get his thoughts on the trade.

Butcher and factory lambs made up the majority of the sale and they were met with a very strong selling trade, particularly the butcher-type lambs which regularly sold for in excess of €120/head.

There were a few pens of ewe lambs and stores, as well as a small selection of cull ewes – which were also a good, solid trade.

The mart’s manager, Brian Hogan, had the following to say: “Numbers were back, surprisingly, at yesterday’s sale.

However, that didn’t have an impact on the trade, with those heavy lambs, in particular, a flying trade.

“I’d probably describe the trade for butcher lambs as ‘on fire’, with buyers really battling it out for those types.

“Those butcher-type lambs sold, mainly, from €118/head up to €124/head, while factory-finished lambs made from €106/head up to €115/head.

“Due to the small number on offer, some buyers were unable to secure the number of lots they wanted.

“Cull ewe numbers were also back yesterday, but still, there was a strong demand for what ewes were on offer. Heavy ewes made up to a tops of €127/head.”

‘Some still struggling to adapt to online selling’

On the topic of online selling and how the mart’s customers have taken to the new way of trading, Brian said: “I suppose you could say that online selling of sheep in the yard is ‘unique’.

“We are selling the sheep to an empty ring with a video link of the lambs/ewes being broadcasted to buyers on their phones or whatever way they are viewing the sale.

It’s strange and very different from what we are used to but, in saying that, the trade on Monday was very good.

“Some customers are stilling finding it hard to adapt to selling online, but they can definitely feel more confident with the prices that are being paid out at the minute.”