There’s been an increase in the price of cull ewe in marts across the country. As the price broke the €200/head mark, one would have thought that the Covid-19 pandemic would have negatively impacted sales, however it did quite the opposite. According to the latest figures heavy ewes are now at prices of up to €160-175/head and selling back to €145-150/head.
Added to this, ewes in excess of 95kg increasing some sales price to as much as €190-200/head. Medium sized ewes are now trading at around €120-135-140/head. Lighter store ewes are making from €60-110/head, while hill ewes are starting at a base of €1.00/kg.
In comparison to last year’s figures, it’s understood that trade dipped into the summer but continued to increase into the middle third of the year. Reports state that taking a look back to this time last year, we can see that prices now are ahead by anywhere from €20-40/head. Prices rose steadily towards the end of last year and held a steady strong level since going back to the back end of 2021.
Numbers of cull ewes at marts of late have been on the rise with farmers moving on ewes that scanned empty in lamb.
LSL News.