The annual show and sale of Mule ewe lambs at Ballymena mart saw a 96% clearance returning an average of £112.61 for 2570 sold, down £1.40 on 2022. The top price of £400 was paid for a show lamb presented by S O’Kane followed by £255 per head for a pen of 10 offered by E Loughran for his first prized pen purchased by the judge W Byers. Leading sale prices and prizewinning positions:- S O’Kane 1 @ £400, E Loughran 10 @ £255 (1^st ), 12 @ £180, M Kelly 10 @ £175 (2^nd ), R Loughery 10 @ £172, JR Loughery 10 @ £170, S Kerr 10 @ £168, J Loughery 10 @ £168, J Mills 10 @ £165 (3^rd ), 12 @ £162, R Workman 10 @ £160, E Loughran 12 @ £160, JR Loughery 10 @ £160, J Loughery 10 @ £158, R Workman 12 @ £155, JR Loughery 15 @ £155, M Kelly 12 @ £152, W Adams 14 @ £152, S Kerr 15 @ £150. Leading averages:- M Kelly 159 ave £132.22, S Kerr 107 ave £128.76, E Loughran 221 ave £126.65, R Workman 154 ave £122.36, J Mills 183 ave £122.08.

The annual show and sale of Mule and Greyface hoggets saw a reduced entry resulting in a rise in the average of £11 per head to level at £174.60 for 2517 hoggets sold. Prior to the sale the show of Mules was judged by J Loughery who awarded first prize to Packie Donnelly for a tremendous pen of hoggets which subsequently claimed the top price of £275 per head with Packie also achieving the highest sale average of £210 per head for an entry of 176. A show of Greyface hoggets was judged by Joe Adams with first place awarded to Ian McCluggage. In the lamb ring there was an excellent entry of Suffolk Cheviot ewe lambs which returned an average of £148.30 per head for 628 forward, similar to 2022. Top price of £280 was paid for a single show lamb offered by Robert Workman while IJ&A Wilson took the next top price of £190 per head for a pen of 12 lambs, a price also matched by Sandra Hunter for a pen of 10 S/C lambs. Leading prices in each section were as follows:- Hoggets – P Donnelly 10 @ £275, W Byers 12 @ £265, S Wilson 12 @ £242, P Donnelly 10 @ £240, M&D McAleese 12 @ £240, P Donnelly 10 @ £235, J Currie 10 @ £228, W Byers 10 @ £225, S Wilson 14 @ £225, P Donnelly 10 @ £220, 10 @ £220, J Currie 10 @ £220, 10 @ £218, M&D McAleese 12 @ £218, P Donnelly 11 @ 215, G Armstrong 14 @ £212, P Donnelly 11 @ £210, 10 @ £210, C Adams 11 @ £210, D Bamber 12 @ £210. (leading averages – P Donnelly 176 ave £210, M&D McAleese 42 ave £208, W Byers 62 ave £200, S Wilson 113 ave £193, J Currie 216 ave £190). S/C Ewe lambs:- R Workman 1 @ £280, IJ&A Wilson 12 @ £190, S Hunter 10 @ £190, R Workman 10 @ £185, N Walsh 11 @ £182, R Thompson 10 @ £180, N Walsh 5 @ £175, R Workman 12 @ £175, N Walsh 10 @ £170, J Lamont 13 @ £170, M Johnston 10 @ £168, N Walsh 10 @ £168, R Workman 12 @ £165, A Chambers 1 @ £165, IJ&A Wilson 11 @ £162, J Lamont 12 @ £162, R Hunter 10 @ £162, N Walsh 11 @ £160, 12 @ £160, R Workman 12 @ £160, D&D Robinson 10 @ £160.

BALLYMENA SUFFOLK CHEVIOT & CONTINENTAL HOGGET SALE 2023

The first of the 2023 annual breeding sheep sales at Ballymena Mart kicked off with a strong start for the entry of 4200 hoggets and lambs. Whilst trade was strong for good quality hoggets they returned an average of £188.79 per head for 3441 sold which surprisingly was down £14 per head on 2022 whereas in the lamb ring whilst trade appeared sticky they returned a similar average to the previous year of £117.40 for 840 sold. Topping the sale at £390 for a show hogget was Packie Donnelly whilst the top price of £310 for pens of hoggets was paid to WJ Donaghy and D Knox.  In the ewe lamb section lambs sold to £175 per head paid to Joel Lamont for a super pen of S/C lambs with L Anderson taking the second top price of £170 per head also for S/C lambs. Leading prices and averages in each section were as follows:- Hoggets – D Knox 12 @ £310, WJ Donaghy 12 @ £310, W Blackburn 6 @ £295, D Knox 12 @ £292, B McKinley 11 @ £275, W Blackburn 12 @ £260, M Breen 12 @ £250, D Knox 8 @ £250, W Blackburn 12 @ £245, P Donnelly 10 @ £245, 10 @ £245, 11 @ £245, WJ Donaghy 10 @ £245, D Gibson 11 @ £240.  (Leading averages – WJ Donaghy 28 ave £267.50, D Knox 69 ave £254, P Donnelly 181 ave £221, B McKinley 98 ave £214, J Currie 115 ave £210, W Blackburn 264 ave £208) Ewe Lambs – J Lamont 14 @ £175, L Anderson 12 @ £170, R&J Robinson 2 @ £165, 2 @ £160, J Adams 3 @ £155, A McFarlane 10 @ £155, C&M Mullan 12 @ £155, L Anderson 7 @ £150, S McGilligan 12 @ £145, C&M Mullan 11 @ £145.

MULE EWE LAMB SALE 2022

The annual sale of Mule ewe lambs at Ballymena Mart attracted an entry of 3083 lambs and while averages were back by £18 per head on the year to £114 per head some excellent prices were recorded. A show lamb from Seamus O’Kane sold at £440 while pens of 10 sold to £255 and £250 per head paid to M Kelly and J Mills respectively. Leading average of the night was claimed by S Kerr, the last exhibitor in the ring, who’s 109 lambs forward averaged £144.55per head. Leading prices and averages were as follows:- S O’Kane 1 @ £440, M Kelly 10 @ £255, J Mills 10 @ £250, G Loughery 10 @ £200, J Mills 12 @ £178, O Loughran 10 @ £175, G Loughery 12 @ £175, R Loughery 10 @ £175, 10 @ £170, S Kerr 12 @ £165, 14 @ £165, O Loughran 14 @ £160, J Mills 14 @ £160, M Kelly 12 @ £160, 12 @ £160, O Loughran 10 @ £158, R Workman 10 @ £155, O Loughran 14 @ £150, R Loughery 15 @ £150, 15 @ £150, S Kerr 12 @ £150, 12 @ £150, 14 @ £150. Averages – S Kerr 109 ave £144.55, J Mills ave 139.27, M Kelly 154 ave £136.60, R Loughery 201 ave £122.05, R Workman 178 ave £121.76, O Loughran 238 ave £119.14.

The first of the annual breeding sheep sales at Ballymena mart saw an increase of 20% in the entry on 2021 with 4500 sheep forward and a 96% clearance. Despite the recent falls in fat lamb prices hogget averages rose by £10 per head to £202.85 and sold to a top of £335 and £325 per head both paid to Morris Breen who also achieved the top average of £260 per head for his entry of 63. The large show in the ewe lamb section however saw averages back by £3 per head to £117 but with quality very much in demand a top price of £230 per head was paid to L Anderson for a tremendous pen of S/C lambs. Leading prices and averages were as follows:- Hoggets – M Breen Tempo 12 @ £335, 12 @ £325, R Carlisle N’abbey 8 @ £300, W Blackburn Clogher 12 @ £285, 4 @ £275, D Knox Kesh 12 @ £275, W Blackburn 14 @ £270, 2 @ £260, V Anderson Clough 12 @ £260, A Simpson Dungannon 14 @ £252, W Blackburn 12 @ £250, J Currie B’money 10 @ £250, J Graham Dundrod 12 @ £245, W Blackburn 12 @ £245, 1 @ £240, M Breen 10 @ £240, D Knox 12 @ £240, W Irvine 6 @ £240, V Anderson 12 @ £240, 12 @ £240, WJ Hanna 12 @ £240. Leading Averages – M Breen 63 ave £260, V Anderson 147 ave £225, W Blackburn 255 ave £222, N Rollston 100 ave £218, D Gibson 188 ave £215, P Donnelly 178 ave £214, B McKinley 144 ave £212. Ewe Lambs – L Anderson K’waughter 10 @ £230, AM McFarlane Dungiven 12 @ £175, L Anderson 10 @ £170, AM McFarlane 12 @ £160, 12 @ £150, L Anderson 8 @ £150, AM McFarlane 12 @ £145, C&M Mullan 12 @ £142, 12 @ £140, IJ&A Wilson 12 @ £140.

An entry of 2222 sheep in Ballymena on Wednesday resulted in a steady trade. Fat hoggets sold to 578p for a pen of 19kg Beltex at £110 from B McAllister, Kells and a top per head of £136.50 for 2 Texels 35kg for John McFall, Broughshane. Fat ewes sold to £232.

Fat Hoggets (1950)

Top per Kg

B McAllister, Kells 1 Bel 19kg £110 (579), B McAllister 2 Bel 21.5kg £124 (576), local farmer 18 Suff 21kg £120 (571), local farmer 22 Bf 21kg £119 (566) I Montgomery, Glenwherry 2 Tex 22.5kg £126 (560), C Hamilton, Carnlough 169 Suff 22kg £123 (559), R T Buchanan, Doagh 17 Tex 21kg £115 (547), G Longstaff, Kells 14 Dor 22.5kg £123 (546), M Stewart, Coleraine 40 Tex 22kg £120 (545), I Montgomery 12 Char 23kg £125 (543), C Millar, Kilrea 5 Tex 23kg £125 (543), W Ferguson, Stewartstown 24 Tex 22kg £119 (540), J Lamont, Kells 11 Suff 20.5kg £110 (536), S White, Cloughmills 25 Tex 22kg £118 (536), R Hamilton, Carnlough 78 Suff 23kg £123 (534), A Dobbs, Carrickfergus 4 Tex 22.5kg £120 (533), A Dobbs 20 Tex 22.5kg £120 (533), I Frew, Cullybackey 3 Dor 24kg £128 (533), S Mullan, Armoy 2 Dor 23.5kg £124 (529), A Andrews, Kells 2 Dor 8kg £95 (578).

Top per head

J McFall, Broughshane 2 Tex 35kg £136.50, J Graham, Crumlin 2 Rou 32.5kg £136, R & S Graham, Dundrod 8 Tex 30.5kg £135, R&S Graham 3 Suff 30.5kg £134.50, K McClenaghan, Antrim 6 Char 33.5kg £133, B McAllister, Kells 2 Tex 29kg £133, I Gibson 10 Tex 30.50 £132, H Carson Dundrod 27 Tex 28.5kg £131, M Currie, Antrim 2 Tex 33kg £131, H Carson 25 Tex 29kg £130.50, J Gilliland, Muckamore 5 Suff 30.5kg £130.50, H Carson 23 Tex 28kg £130, J Angus,                 Kircubbin 9 Cro 25kg £130, N Boyd, Broughshane 21 Cro 30kg £130, B Paisley, Ballynure 11 Tex 28.5kg £130, A Angus, Kircubbin 45 Tex 28kg £129.50, J G Birt, Portglenone 29 Tex 26.5kg £129, J Simpson, Dervock 11 Tex 25kg £129, J Fenton, Glarryford 9 Bel 26kg £129, H McCracken, Ballywalter 16 Tex 27kg £128.50.

Fat Ewes (272)

1^st Quality

Suff - £140-£172

Tex - £150-£232

CB - £110-£172

BF - £60-£75