No new year hogget price lift at marts

The first sheep sales of 2017 have started off on par with the pre-Christmas trade.

With a bank holiday last Monday, quite a few marts have yet to reopen after the Christmas break and next week we should see business as usual.

Factory hoggets weighing 46kg to 48kg are selling for €96 to €103/head or €50 to €55 over the weight. Heavier hoggets weighing 50kg+ are selling for €100 to €107/head.

One mart manager in the west said there has been no real change in prices over the past month and that factory lambs in particular are holding steady.

He said factory agents are still active in the marts, but they have very strict limits and will not breach a certain price.

Forward store hogget prices have held to pre-Christmas levels too, with hoggets weighing 42kg to 44kg making €82 to €94/head or €40 to €50 over the weight.

The majority of 35kg to 40kg hoggets are selling from €75 to €80.

Hill-bred store hoggets are selling for €1.70/kg to €1.90/kg for Scotch-bred lambs and over €2/kg for crossbred hoggets.

Mild weather is good news for farmers selling these hoggets, as buyers in the east and midlands have good grass availability.

Others with GLAS catch crops are also opting to buy in store hoggets to graze them off.

Cull ewes

There seems to be more demand for cull ewes, but prices have not moved beyond pre-Christmas levels either.

Factory-fit ewes are selling from €85 to €100/head, with top prices of €108/head being paid for large-framed fleshed ewes.

Lowland-bred feeding ewes are selling for €60 to €75/head.

At the moment, ewe numbers in the marts are low, but this will increase soon, as ewes that failed to go in-lamb are culled from breeding flocks after scanning.

In-lamb ewes

Some marts had in-lamb ewes at sales, but numbers are small as of yet.

In one sale, two-year-old ewes scanned in-lamb carrying 1.95 lambs sold up to a tops of €175/head.

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