With an improved sheep trade the last two weeks, Elphin Mart is seeing an increase in the number of finished hoggets presented for sale.

Manager Ciaran Lynch said: “The lift in factory prices has been a great boost to the live trade.

“We had a great sale here last week and that’s what has brought out the big numbers tonight.

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“Prices for heavy hoggets have held steady, but farmers need to be getting over €200 for hoggets to justify feeding them for the winter,” he said.

Well-fleshed hoggets over 57kg commanded north of €210/head, with lighter hoggets from 50kg up making over €200 if they had flesh.

A small number of store hoggets were on offer and these have seen an improvement in recent weeks, with hoggets over the 40kg mark making €160 upwards.

Spring lamb

“We had a small number of lambs appear out in this week's sale, but numbers should increase over the coming weeks.

"Farmers who lamb early need to get well paid for their lambs and I hope the recent rise in hoggets will be reflected in the lamb trade over the coming weeks,” commented Lynch.

“We had a great trade for cull ewes, especially heavy well-fleshed ewes.

“Ewes around the 100kg mark made €250/head, with one ewe 106kg selling for €260. Lighter ewes lacking flesh from 60kg to 80kg made from €120 to €180,” he said.

There was a number of breeding sheep on offer, with in-lamb hoggets selling from €180 to €190 and ewes with lambs selling from €230 for ewes with singles to a top of €310 for a ewe with two lambs at foot.