Meat processing plants have said that they have been seeing an increasing number of ‘lighter/under-fleshed’ lambs coming through the system over the last few weeks.

It has been widely reported by mart managers that farmers have been drafting lambs a lot sooner than normal in account of the good trade.

A contact from a meat processing plant said that they are seeing more under-fleshed lambs coming through the system than they normally would and that farmers should take extra care when drafting lambs, to make sure that they are not falling below a carcase weight of 17kg.

In terms of lamb quotes, Kildare Chilling is back on the table this week and is leading the way with a base quote of €5.10/kg for lambs.

Irish Country Meats (ICM) is quoting a base price of €4.90/kg for lambs, while Kepak Athleague was not quoting for lambs or cast ewes on Tuesday (August 25).

Those involved in producer groups or those with large numbers on hand have reportedly been securing deals of between €5.20/kg and €5.30/kg, with some deals as much as €5.35/kg being achieved.

Finally, in terms of cast ewes, base prices are ranging from €2.50/kg up to €2.60/kg.

Throughput

For the week ending August 16, the sheep kill amassed to 52,586 head, which was a sizeable increase of over 8,300 head from the week before.

The number of spring lambs processed increased by 6,563 head and amounted to 43,452 head, for the week ending August 16. To date this year, 12% or 79,873 more lambs have been killed in comparison to the same period in 2019.

Cast (ewe and ram) supplies at the Department of Agriculture approved sheep export plants stood at 9,000 head – an increase of 1,761 head – for the week ending August 16.

Moreover, overall supplies decreased by 8,354 head during the week ending August 16 and amounted to 52,586 head.

Cumulative figures for the year to date have reached 1,758,056 head, which is an increase of 96,118 head compared to the 2019 figure of 1,661,938 head.