Read The Irish Farmers Journal for all the latest developments in the sheep farming sector & market today including lamb, hogget & sheep prices.
The plants have also increased base quotes for lambs to €9/kg plus 20c/kg QA payment and moved its carcase weight limit to 24kg.
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The beef trade settles back to normal trading after the Christmas holidays and prices are running above 530p/kg. Hoggets are also on the rise, with quotes up to 700p/kg.
Tight supplies have been compounded this week by extremely challenging drafting and transport conditions in many parts of the country.
With weather conditions playing havoc with factory throughput, agents were anxious to use the sale to try to get more numbers on hand.
Deadweight quotes for lambs are running in the region of €2/kg to €2.25/kg higher, while quotes for cull ewes have hit €5/kg this week and are running up to €1.80/kg higher.
With less than 100 ewes on offer, demand outstripped supply, driving prices for quality ewes from €2.30/kg to as high as €2.80/kg.
The kill for the first 51 weeks of the year was recorded at 2,468,849 head, equating to a fall of over 370,000 head compared to 2023 levels.
With factories slaughtering four days this week, agents have been working hard to try to maximise throughput and are active in trying to encourage higher numbers forward.
Rachel Gallagher reports from Carnew Mart for its last sheep sale of the year.
Farmers delivering significant numbers of lambs for Christmas week have received slightly higher prices, with the general run of lambs trading from €8.80/kg to €8.90/kg.
