On Wednesday (February 9) Enniscorthy Mart held its weekly sale of sheep, which saw a positive trade all round.

Speaking to Agriland after the sale, the mart's manager, Kevin Murphy, gave a rundown of the trade on the day.

He said: "It was a good-sized sale for the time of the year and a large part of the sale was made up of heavy hoggets.

"The trade remains much the same as last week, with plenty of buyers looking for hoggets. There was also a good number of recently scanned, empty ewes on offer.

"Wholesale butcher buyers clashed with factory agents for the fleshier and better conformed lots. Prices ranged from €153/head up to €160/head, or from €100 to €106 over their weight."

Sample heavy lamb prices:

"There was a good entry of factory hoggets as well and they were making from €147/head for nine hoggets at 45kg, selling up to €155/head for eight hoggets at 48kg. All of which were bought by factory agents who are still keen for hoggets," Kevin added.

Sample factory lamb prices:

"Store hoggets are becoming increasingly scarce, but still a good demand as the big feeders replace those they have already slaughtered," Kevin said.

Sample store hogget prices:

"There wasn’t as many heavy culls on offer as recent weeks, and there is a massive demand for those heavy ewes," said Kevin.

Sample heavy cull ewe prices:

Sample store cull ewe prices:

"Lastly, there was a small entry of good, strong, full-mouthed ewes with lambs at foot on offer, and these peaked at €265/unit for four ewes with twins at foot," Kevin said.

"The lowest price on the day was €235/unit for four full-mouthed ewes with singles at foot. There are plenty of buyers looking for these that didn’t get to buy as the numbers on offer were small."