Sheep quotes soar by up to 30c/kg across the board
There are times when I wonder if some people in life missed their calling. I mention this in relation to a reply I got to a text message I sent to a procurement officer of a prominent sheep factory at the weekend enquiring how the sheep trade was.
“Temporary and beautiful like the autumn sun...but winter is coming.”
Make what you will of that. The sun is riding high in the sky at present for sheep farmers, and the only ones seeking the cool of the winter are the factories as quotes for cull ewes, hoggets and spring lambs all strengthened by another 10-30c/kg.
The biggest lift came in the hogget section with both Kildare Chilling and Dawn Ballyhaunis adding 30c/ kg, to €7.60+10c/kg QA and €7.50+10c/kg QA respectively.
Dawn added 15c/kg to their spring lamb offer, to €7.90+10c/kg, while the two
ICM plants returned on €7.90+10c/kg QA after last week’s no quote.
Kildare continue out in front on €8.10+10c/kg QA, up 20c/kg.
On the cull ewe side Dawn pushed their base quote up by 10c/kg yesterday leaving them ahead of the pack on €3.30/kg.
After a brief flurry back into the public eye last week when they broke their silence with their offering of €7.75+15c/kg for springs, normal service was restored, with no official word on any prices coming from Kepak Athleague.
IFA’s Sean Dennehy and ICSA’s Sean McNamara both said that up to €8/kg was being paid for hogget yesterday, with spring lambs as high as €8.50/kg at the factory gate,.
“For too long farmers have been conditioned into believing consumers would stop buying our product if prices were to rise,” said Sean Dennehy.
“Yet despite the significantly higher prices farmers are receiving for their sheep, prices have not increased significantly to the consumer — and more importantly, sales of lamb in supermarkets have increased.”
Since Covid closed the hospitality sector, whole sections of society have discovered that lamb is not just for Easter or Ramadan, and it’s this new demand from these now enlightened consumers that underpins the strength of the trade for farmers.
On the mart front prices continue to thrive.
On the question of how prices have risen unchecked, the general consensus among mart managers is that, alongside strong demand, sheep factories don’t have their own reserves of stock to call on when supplies tighten, unlike the situation on the beef side.
And while they can and do offer premiums to those with bigger numbers in times of shortage, these operators are as of a rule independent, meaning they are not formally tied as some independent cattle feedlots are.
For now though the sun continues to shine and despite my texter’s suggestion that winter is coming, it’s quite a way to December 21.
Since Covid closed the hospitality sector, whole sections of society have discovered that lamb is not just for Easter or Ramadan