This week's sheep trade has seen hogget factory prices cut by up to 20c/kg in cases since last Monday.

Procurement staff have told Agriland that the trade for hoggets is "very difficult at the moment" with poor demand being seen from the marketplace and mixed quality batches of hoggets being presented at factory lairages.

This time last year, processers were tabling over €9/kg for hoggets with talk in the trade of prices heading for €10/kg. Prices quoted this week are all below €8/kg.

Sheep trade: Factory prices

This week, Kepak is quoting €7.50/kg plus a 15c/kg Quality Assurance (QA) bonus for spring lambs, leaving €7.65/kg on offer up to 23kg carcass-weight. This offer is down 10c/kg since last Monday.

The Athleague, Co. Roscommon site is quoting €4.30-€4.40/kg for cull ewes again this week.

The outlet will be reviewing its price offer for the second half of the week.

Irish Country Meats (ICM) is quoting €7.50/kg plus a 20c/kg QA bonus for lambs, leaving €7.70/kg on offer here up to 23kg carcass-weight this week. This offer is down 20c/kg since last Monday.

The Navan, Co. Meath and Camolin, Co. Wexford-based outlets are quoting €4.30/kg for cull ewes again this week.

Kildare Chilling is quoting €7.50/kg plus a 10c/kg QA bonus for hoggets this week. This price is down 10c/kg since last Monday.

Kildare Chilling is quoting €4.30/kg plus a 10c/kg QA bonus for cull ewes with carcass weights from 35-43kg.

For cull ewes under 35kg carcass-weight, Kildare Chilling is quoting €3.70 plus a 10c/kg QA bonus, leaving €3.80/kg on offer here.

Ballon Meats in Co. Carlow is quoting €7.80/kg for hoggets this week. The outlet is quoting €5.00/kg for cull ewes again this week. These offers are unchanged since last week.

Kilkenny Mart

There were over 400 sheep at Kilkenny Mart today (Monday, January 26) with prices having fallen €7-€12/head on last week's sale, according to auctioneer George Chandler.

A batch of 15 hoggets with an average weight of 63kg made €180/head.

Another batch of 16 hoggets with an average weight of 47kg made €166/head, while cull ewes made from €136-€217/head.