There was plenty of contenders for sales to grab the headlines at Ballybofey and Stranorlar Mart’s sheep sale on Thursday evening.

A lightning cull ewe trade saw prices top out at €360, while ewes with lambs at foot sold to a top of €370 per outfit and springing ewes to €400.

The hogget trade was also a strong contender, with agents extremely anxious for stock.

The general run of prices paid for fleshed lowland hoggets weighing upwards of 50kg ranged from €197 to €212, with a selection of lots climbing upwards of €220/head.

The trade for crossbred types was particularly impressive, with some horned hoggets weighing around the 50kg mark selling from €188 to €200/head, depending on potential slaughter performance.

Sharp trade

Lighter lots weighing from 47kg to 49kg sold from upwards of €180 for plainer-quality or crossbred lots to the mid- to high-€190s for fleshed lowland types.

The sharp trade for finished hoggets is also fueling excellent demand for store types. Hoggets weighing 40kg to 42kg sold in the main from €140 to €155.

Light hoggets weighing in the mid-30kg weight range sold from €110 to €128, with a number of pens of Scottish Blackface ewe hoggets weighing around 30kg without any feeding sold in a fine trade from €95 to €107/head.

The cull ewe trade was underpinned by a strong trade for ewes being purchased for export and niche market demand.

Ewes weighing upwards of 95kg to 100kg sold from €200 to €260 in general, while a selection of individual lots including a few pedigree ewes topped the €300 mark and sold to €360/head.

Brisk

The trade was brisk for all weight ranges, with fleshed lowland ewes topping the €2/kg mark with ease, while fleshed light crossbred and Scottish Blackface ewes weighing from 55kg to 65kg sold from €1.50/kg to €1.65/kg.

There was a good entry of ewes with lambs at foot on offer. Prices were very dependent on quality of the ewe and lamb.

Smaller-framed and aged ewes with light twin lambs at foot sold from €185 to €240, with top-quality ewes and strong lambs hitting €300 and €375 per outfit.

Single lamb lots sold in the main from €160 to €190/head, with some lots including aged lambs exceeding the €200/head mark.

In pictures

This batch of seven light crossbred ewe lambs weighing 27.1kg sold for €100 (€3.69/kg).

These eight Scottish Blackface ram lambs weighing 38.30kg sold for €132 (€3.45/kg).

This Border Leicester ewe and her two lambs weighing 84kg sold for €224.

This small-framed black-fleeced ewe and her two lambs weighing 64kg in total sold for €225.

This purebred Texel ewe and her two strong Texel lambs weighing 106kg in total sold for €330.

This black-fleeced ewe and her two Dutch Spotted lambs weighing 78kg in total sold for €310.

This batch of eight horned crossbred ram lambs weighing 37.5kg sold for €137 each (€3.65/kg).

Three two-year-old ewes and their three young lambs at foot weighing on average 76kg sold for €190 each.

This fleshed dry ewe weighing 42kg sold for €94 (€2.24/kg).

These three fleshed cull ewes weighing 58kg sold for €123 (€2.12/kg).

This batch of six Scottish Blackface ewes weighing 43kg sold for €66 (€1.54/kg).

This batch of four crossbred hoggets weighing 45kg sold for €170 each (€3.78/kg).

This ewe and her black-fleeced lamb weighing 78kg in total sold for €145.

This Suffolk-cross ewe and her strong lamb weighing 90kg combined sold for €215.

These three Greyface ewe hoggets weighing 55kg sold for €203 each (€3.69/kg).

Weighing 53.4kg on average, these well-fleshed indoor finished hoggets sold for €212 (€3.97/kg).

This batch of 10 crossbred ram lambs weighing 39.4kg sold for €150 each (€3.81/kg).