Up to €106 for butchers hoggets

The positive news for sheep farmers is that the price gains of recent weeks have been maintained at factories, and supply levels remain tight, which should see market stability continuing.

Although there are fewer factories buying hoggets this week, with slaughtering days being staggered, the uniformly quoted price is 400 cents/kg (143p/lb), plus the usual 6 cents/kg (2p/lb) bonus for quality. Intake at factories is running at around 30,000 lambs, similar to this time last year.

In the marts, up to €51 over has been paid for the best of the butchers hoggets, with the trade showing gains of up to €2/head.