On Tuesday (February 15), Tullow Mart held its weekly sale of sheep which saw a steady trade for hoggets and cull ewes breaching €200/head.
Speaking after the sale, Eric said: “We had over 1,600 sheep on offer here at Tullow on Tuesday and I would simply just call the trade steady, on what we had the previous week.
“Certainly, there was no improvement in the trade, but a very noticeable demand for those 48-50kg hoggets.
“Heavier hoggets sold out to a tops of €160/head but [it was] generally a sluggish demand for those 57-58kg types.
“Looking at some more prices then, hoggets above 53kg sold from €155/head up to €161/head with many selling for €157-159/head.
“Lighter hoggets, but still with a good flesh cover, weighing 48-51kg traded from €150/head up to €156/head, with some real quality pens pushing up to €158/head.
“Moving to stores weighing from 30-34kg, these were possibly a little easier compared to previous weeks and sold from €110/head up to €120/head, with 38-42kg lots for €130-136/head and some ewe lamb lots pushing up to €140/head.”
Cull ewes break the €200 mark again
“There was no great change in the cull ewe trade, with heavy cast ewes breaking the €200/head mark again and ewes from 80-90kg selling for €140-170/head,” Eric continued.
“Lighter feeding ewes sold from €30-40 with the kilo and even real young ewes scanned empty coming into two years-of-age making up to €2/kg.”
Brood section
“In the brood ring, ewes with twin lambs at foot were making up to €320/unit, with ewes with a lamb-and-a-half at foot making from €240/unit up to €270/unit,” Eric added.
“Furthermore, aged ewes with single lambs started from a base of €170/unit, up to €220-230/head for younger ewes with a single lamb at foot.
“[Regarding in-lamb ewes] we had a special entry of Texel ewes all scanned carrying twins that sold for €220-230/head. April-lambing ewes sold from €160/head up to €180/head, while another entry of in-lamb Cheviot ewes sold for €190-205/head.”