A year of lamb prices worth waiting for

LAMB prices are stable at factories this week, promising a favourable end to the best year of lamb prices for a long time, rewarding sheep farmers who stayed with the business through the difficult years.

Quoted prices are unchanged at most of the plants, and strong demand for lambs enables farmers to negotiate this week for a generous premium before parting with lambs, as processors fill the last of their Christmas orders.

Moyvalley Meats continues to lead the way with an all-in price of 500 cent/kg (178p/lb) on offer, but only marginally ahead of their neighbours Kildare Chilling, when all of the attainable bonus payments are added to Kildare’s base price of 484 cent. The Kepak factories quoted 385 cent/kg plus bonus this week, and other processors offered a base of 480 cent plus bonus.