'€9/kg for lambs to be got' as farmers hold back to get weights up
Farm organisations have indicated that €9/kg is available for lambs at present, with many lambs seemingly being held back in order to get their weights up.
However, Willie Shaw, the sheep chairperson of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association (ICSA), claimed that this is not being reflected by attitudes among factories.
"The factories are giving the impression that...the sheep are too expensive for what they are trying to do with it at the moment, but it's not being reflected in any of the prices, either on the retail side of it or the restaurant side of it," Shaw said.
"We would have people travelling overseas, maybe friends or family, we're all on the lookout of what lamb is costing...we all know what lamb is costing if you order it in a restaurant."
He said that farmers selling lambs now need to make money so they will be "back again next September" to buy lambs.
He added: "There's €9/kg there for lambs to be got. €9/kg across the board regardless of what factories would lead you to believe."
Meanwhile, Adrian Gallagher, the sheep chairperson for the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA), said that factories have been trying to "steady the ship" as prices continuously increased early in the new year.
"Farmers did resist, numbers were down, and they are probably only killing factory fit lambs now. There are less underweight, under-finished lambs going through at the moment, that's become very apparent," he said.
"In general, most farmers are holding back and feeding on to try to get lambs into 23kg-24kg when the opportunity is there. That's what farmers have done," Gallagher added.
According to the IFA sheep chairperson, prices are currently around €8.60kg to €8.70kg (base price) from factories, with bonuses on top of that leaving "probably €9/kg available in most".
"I'd say that will probably continue for the rest of February, then towards the end of February to early March, you should see an increase coming in then."
He said factories will be trying to get numbers in for the Islamic festival of Ramadan.
At the moment, Gallagher said: "Farmers are holding back...and making sure the lambs are at the correct weight and correct condition before letting them go. At €9/kg, if you're down 2kg, it's €18, so it's a lot. Farmers are targeting the 24kg to get paid the full weight.
"Numbers will come out towards the middle of March. You will see an increase in the kill in the month of March and I'd say there would be somewhat of a backlog of lambs to come out," he added.
Commenting on the cull ewe trade, Gallagher said: "There is very good demand at the moment for cull ewes... A lot of farmers are offloading dry ewes, there are very few farmers now carrying on any ewes that are not in lamb.
"You see big numbers are coming out, some farmers are selling dry ewes they may have let lie on, but they're cashing in. There's business decisions being made there and rightly so," he added.
