There is a sharper tone to sheep mart sales in recent days, with factory agents showing keener demand for lambs.

The trade is being helped by some stability entering factory quotes, combined with numbers in many marts running below the normal level for the time of year.

Prices are not too dissimilar to the previous week, but lambs are selling better and in cases returns have firmed by €1 to €2/head.

The general run of prices for lambs weighing 48kg to 50kg is in the region of €180 to €185 for fleshed lowland lots.

Excellent-quality lots are rising to €190/head, while heavy lambs are in cases rising to the mid- to high-€190s where butcher interest is present.

Lighter lots weighing 45kg to 46kg are highly dependent on flesh cover and range in the main from €170 to €180, with the best-quality types exceeding €180/head.

At the other end of the quality spectrum, lambs lacking flesh are selling back to the low €160s and lower in cases.

Lambs weighing 41kg to 42kg are selling from €3.80/kg to upwards of €4/kg or €150 to the low-€160s with plainer-quality types below €150.

Store lamb numbers remain small, with the general run of prices averaging from €3.60/kg to €3.80/kg. Crossbred types are selling back to €3.40/kg, while batches of well-presented lowland types have hit €3.90/kg to €4/kg.

Some marts have reported no entries of hoggets, while others report small entries of ewe hoggets and occasional entries of wether hoggets.

Good-quality well-grown hoggets weighing in excess of 50kg are trading from €190 to €235 in the main, with heavier types and some top-quality lots rising to €250 to €270 and as high as €300 on rare occasion.

Fleshed factory hoggets are selling anywhere from €150 to €180 with demand improved.

There is a better tone to the cull ewe trade, although prices have not moved. Fleshed lowland types are selling from €2.20/kg to €2.40/kg on average and to €2.50/kg to €2.60/kg for top-quality types.

Ewes lacking flesh cover are selling below €2/kg with hill ewes from €1/kg to €1.45/kg for light ewes and €1.65/kg to €1.90/kg for heavier types.