This Pedigree Spotted Dutch ram lamb sold for 5,000gns (€5,745).
Sheep sales are riding high at the moment, with particular strong demand for breeding stock at sales up and down the country.
This was evident at Friday night’s special sale of 45 lots of Spotted Dutch, Blue Texel and other breeds of sheep at Beatties Pedigree Centre outside Omagh, Co Tyrone.
It ended up being a spectacular first ever Springtime Sparklers sale.
This Pedigree Blue Texel ewe lamb sold for 800gns (€920).
This Sufftex ewe lamb sold for 900gns (€1,035).
This Pedigree Blue Texel ewe with her ewe and ram lamb at foot sold for 1600gns (€1,840).
The sheep trade remains brisk, with good demand from both factory agents and butchers.
Raphoe Mart had a big entry of hoggets on Monday and prices ranged from €110/head to a top of €282 for a pair of super Texel hoggets weighing 77.5kg each.
This Texel-cross fat ewe weighed 75kg and sold for €196.
Light spring lambs in the 34kg to 38kg weight category sold from €120/head to €140/head.
Heavier lambs in the 38kg to 43kg weight category sold from €140/head to €160/head, while spring lambs weighing from 43kg to 50kg sold from €160/head to €186/head.
These seven hoggets weighed 55kg and sold for €186/head.
SHARING OPTIONS:
Supplies of well-fleshed hoggets have tightened, with butcher and wholesale activity increasing as a result. \ Claire Nash
The highlight of the trade on Monday is the strong reports surfacing from sheep sales.
Cork Marts Corrin sales yard in Fermoy topped the highlights, with a top price of €164 paid for Charollais-cross ewe hoggets weighing 51.8kg.
The sale was not a one-off, with the hammer falling on another pen of 11 hoggets weighing 55.6kg at €162.
Another notable price achieved was €158 paid on two occasions for hoggets weighing 50.6kg and 53.3kg.
Tight supplies
The trade was driven by tight supplies, with an entry of just 17 lots of hoggets.