Tipperary farming: factories are forced into doing a u-turn on lamb prices

IFA national sheep chairman Sean Dennehy has said it is clear that factories "overcooked" price cuts last week and are having to do a u-turn this week to get lambs.

The reality was that supplies were extremely tight and factories were unable to buy lambs at the lower quoted prices. He said factories were now paying €6.20/kg to get lambs.

Mr Dennehy said farmers needed to dig in hard and insist on full value. They should desist from moving any under-finished or underweight lambs and continue to sell as lambs become fit.

He said supplies were very tight on the ground and factories were struggling to get numbers to meet market demand.

Meanwhile, IFA national livestock chairman Angus Woods said farmers should push back hard on the propaganda from agents and the factories on price and insist on full value for their stock.

He said the negative rumours were a "trap" to try and squeeze out very tight supplies and to undermine confidence in the trade.

He said the base price for steers was €4.20/kg and €4.30 for heifers, with more paid in places on various deals.