Scarcity of spring lamb looks likely
IFA sheep committee chairman Laurence Fallon said prices paid to farmers for their sheep should remain very strong this season, due to continuing scarce supplies and strong market demand.
In the lead-up to Easter, producers should insist on a premium price for a premium product in scarce supply.
The prices have already topped 5/kg (£1.80p/lb).
“Last year, sheep numbers at the meat plants fell by 690,000 head. Numbers will be equally in short supply throughout the 2003 season and prices should remain very firm,” he said. Mr Fallon said that sheep producers needed a return in the order of 80 per head for mid-season lamb to remain viable.
Mr Fallon also disclosed the IFA had written to the Department of Agriculture about live lamb imports by the meat factories and particularly the implementation of new controls introduced in 2001.
He said the IFA would be monitoring this situation very closely at the factories this year.
Meanwhile, three BSE cases were recorded this week in County Waterford, Co Kildare and Co Wexford.
Two of the animals were eight-year-olds and one was an 11-year-old.
They brought the number of cases so far this year to 69, compared with 116 for the same period last year.
