The trade in Thursday night’s sheep sale in Ballinasloe Mart was much sharper than the previous week, with prices up by €3 to €5/head.
The standout price from the sale was a batch of quality ewe hoggets which topped the €200 mark and sold for €205/head.
Prices paid for good-quality slaughter-fit hoggets were underpinned by quality, with a price differential of €3 to €8/head evident in places for similar-weight hoggets of varying quality.
The general run of prices for hoggets weighing from 50kg to 57kg was €182 to €188, with batches of crossbred hoggets weighing upwards of 60kg also falling into this price category.
A few batches of top-quality lowland types sold to upwards of €190/head.
The prices were arguably stronger for lighter hoggets, with some good batches of hoggets weighing 47kg to 48kg selling from €174 to €178/head.
Prices for hoggets weighing around the 45kg mark averaged in the region of €3.60/kg, with a 10c/kg differential either side of this depending on quality.
Cull ewes
There was also plenty of bite for cull ewes. Heavy lowland ewes weighing 90kg-plus sold in the main from €200 to €220, with a couple of batches rising to €230.
Lighter lowland ewes weighing 80kg to 85kg sold from €185 to €200, with crossbred types possibly €5 to €10 below this range.
These pens of top-quality ewe hoggets topped the sale at €205/head.
Weighing 54kg, these six fleshed hoggets sold for €190 each (€3.52/kg).
These Texel-cross hoggets weighing 56kg sold for €187 each (€4.34/kg).
This batch of 12 Mule and crossbred hoggets averaging 50kg sold for €178 each (€3.56/kg).
These hoggets weighing 47kg sold for €178 each (€3.79/kg).
With an average weight of 51kg, this batch of 21 Charollais-cross hoggets sold for €183 (€3.59/kg).
These seven hoggets finished indoors and weighing 57kg sold for €189 each (€3.32/kg).
This batch of 20 crossbred hoggets weighing 58kg sold for €188 each (€3.24/kg).
These Mule and Bluefaced Leicester-cross hoggets weighing 54kg sold for €181 (€3.41/kg).
These Suffolk hoggets weighing 50kg sold for €178 each (€3.56/kg).
Weighing 60kg, these crossbred ram lambs sold for €187 each (€3.12/kg).
These Texel-cross ewe hoggets weighing 47kg sold for €175 (€3.72/kg).
These Suffolk-cross hoggets weighing 41kg sold for €148 (€3.61/kg).
These fleshed hoggets weighing 44kg sold for €161 each (€3.66/kg).
SHARING OPTIONS