One of the main talking points of the current sheep trade is the strong prices available for cull ewes with "up to €6/kg being paid to farmers for cull ewes", according to the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association (ICSA) president, Sean McNamara.
The ICSA president told Agriland that up to €9.40/kg is available for spring lambs this week and up to €8.90/kg is being paid for hoggets this week.
McNamara said that the equivalent of these prices are being paid in some cases for fat ewes at marts, while some of the smaller sheep processors are paying these rates for cull ewes.
While the official factory quotes for spring lambs remained unchanged this week, both hogget and cull ewe price quotes increased at some outlets.
This week, Irish Country Meats (ICM) is quoting €9.00/kg plus a 20c/kg Quality Assurance (QA) bonus for spring lambs, leaving €9.20/kg on offer here - up to 21kg carcass weight.
The Navan, Co. Meath and Camolin, Co. Wexford-based processor is quoting €8.50/kg plus a 20c/kg QA bonus for hoggets - leaving €8.70/kg on offer here up to 23kg carcass weight.
ICM is quoting €5.50/kg for cull ewes this week.
Kepak is quoting €9.20/kg for QA spring lambs and €8.70/kg for hoggets up to 21kg and 23kg carcass weight respectively.
The Athleague, Co. Roscommon site is quoting €5.50-€5.60/kg for cull ewes.
Kildare Chilling has no quote for spring lambs or hoggets this week but said that heavy hoggets over 25kg carcass weight will be paid at a top price of €190/head.
The processor is quoting €5.60/kg plus a 10c/kg QA bonus for cull ewes with carcass weights from 35-43kg, leaving €5.70/kg on offer here.
Cull ewes weighing from 25-35kg carcass weight are being quoted at €5.50/kg plus a 10c/kg QA bonus, leaving €5.60/kg available here.
Ballon Meats in Co. Carlow has no quote for spring lambs but is quoting €8.80/kg for hoggets up to 23kg and €5.60/kg for cull ewes up to 41kg.