An improved trade was seen at sheep sales held on Monday (May 24) on last week, in line with firm factory prices, particularly for spring lambs and cull ewes.

Sales held at Corrin and Ennis Marts reported very strong trades for spring lambs and cull ewes, with numbers stronger and prices improved on last week.

Sean Leahy, the mart manager of Corrin Mart, reported a good strong trade again this week at the Cork-based mart, which saw 350 head on offer.

A whopping €193/head was seen for 54.4kg spring lambs yesterday, with prices for those butcher lambs breaking the €170/head on a regular basis.

Speaking on the trade, Sean said: "We saw a very good trade on Monday, with prices topping €193/head for butcher lambs.

"Factory lambs sold to a high of €171/head for 46.9kg, while store lambs sold back to €108/head. Furthermore, looking at the cull ewe trade, prices ranged from €98/head for lighter ewes, up to a tops of €180/head for heavy, well-fleshed ewes.

"Lastly, ewes with lambs at foot made up to €220/unit. All in all, it was a very good, strong trade across the board, with a great demand seen for all categories of sheep."

Sample butcher lamb prices:

Sample factory lamb prices:

Martin McNamara, the mart manager of Ennis Mart, reported a very large sale of over 600 sheep yesterday (Monday, May 24) - which represented a doubling in the size of a sale at this time of the year for the Clare-based mart.

Martin noted a "cracking trade" for lambs and cull ewes. Lambs sold up to a high of €185/head for 48kg.

Cull ewes made up to a tops of €181/head and a small entry of hoggets sold to €175/head.

In the brood ring, a top price of €346 was seen for three ewes with five lambs at foot.

Sample spring lamb prices: