Despite a drop in factory quotes for lambs this week, the lamb trade held pretty firm, with finished lambs in short supply in a lot of the marts taking place this week.

Finished lambs were in short supply in Carrigallen on Monday night, with a lot of lighter lambs on show for the time of year.

Factory lambs were back €8 to €10/head on the previous week in line with factory quotes.

Butchers’ lambs saw some good prices paid, with two Suffolk-cross lambs weighing 49kg hitting €171/head.

A number of agents were hungry for factory lambs, with lambs in the 45kg to 48kg weight bracket generally making from €160 to €170/head.

Lighter ewe lambs in the 42kg to 44kg bracket were being bought from €140 to €155/head. Lighter feeding lambs were also in demand, with a pen of ewe lambs weighing 30kg hitting €97/head.

Another pen of ewe lambs weighing 29kg hit €98/head.

Cull ewes were also a solid trade, with heavy ewes in demand.

A pen of cull ewes weighing 78kg sold for €152/head. In general cull ewes were hitting €2/kg.

Commenting on the trade, mart manager Helen Kells said: “We have a number of farmers looking for light lambs for feeding and that trade has held very well in the last two weeks.”