Sheep Irelands’ 2nd Annual Hill Ram Sale was held in Manorhamilton mart on Friday evening 10th of October.
The sale was a multibreed hill ram sale, with 219 hill rams entered across 6 hill breeds. All rams entered were Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS) eligible for hill flocks, meaning they were genotyped and sire verified with a scrapie result of 1, 2 or 3. There were lambs, hogget’s and aged rams available on the evening.
The strict entry criteria provided buyer confidence for sheep farmers who needed to purchase a ram for the scheme as 100% of the rams presented were scheme eligible. The sale also provided a one stop shop for purchasers interested in more than one breed of ram. All rams were physically inspected at intake and any ram that failed inspection was denied entry to the sale.
The sale had an overall clearance of 69%, with an average price of €506. Prices at the sale ranged from €200 to €1020 with rams available for every budget.
| Breed | Average price (€) | Lowest price (€) | Top Price (€) | No. through the ring | Clearance Rate |
| Lanark | 519 | 270 | 860 | 14 | 64% |
| Swaledale | 207 | 200 | 220 | 11 | 27% |
| Perth | 276 | 200 | 420 | 20 | 65% |
| Mayo Connemara | 489 | 240 | 800 | 68 | 56% |
| North Country Cheviot | 505 | 200 | 840 | 30 | 77% |
| Cheviot | 599 | 260 | 1020 | 51 | 94% |
| Overall | 506 | 200 | 1020 | 194 | 69% |
All rams at our Manorhamilton sale had to meet the entry criteria:
- All breeders were members of hill breeding groups
- All rams were genotyped through Sheep Ireland
- All rams were sire verified
- Scrapie type 1,2 or 3.
- SIS eligible
- Physically correct
Since the launch of the Sheep Improvement scheme the traceability on the hill sector has been hugely improved. Sire verification allows peace of mind to purchasers that rams are from different bloodlines than they would have purchased before. Sheep Ireland also has a search facility allowing farmers to check the level of inbreeding between two genotyped males (Genomic Inbreeding – Lambplus (sheep.ie)).
Lanark
There were 14 Lanarks through the ring on the evening . Lot 7 was the top priced Lanark at €860, a hogget ram bred by Michael Ketch, Co. Waterford. Prices ranged from €270 to €860, with a breed average of €519. The breed has a clearance of 64% on the evening.
Swaledale
The Swaledales had 11 rams go through the ring for the breed with an overall average of €207. Prices ranged from €200 to €220, with a clearance of 27%.
The Swaledale awarded top price of the breed was Lot 27, a ram lamb, bred by Michael Healy, Co. Wicklow.
Perth
The Perths had a breed average of €276 on the day. The majority of Perth’s presented were ram lambs, with two hogget rams available on the night. There was a range of €200 to €420 on the evening. The Perth’s had a 65% clearance on the evening.
Top priced ram into the ring was Lot 37, a ram lamb bred by Sean Brennan, Co. Donegal.
Mayo Connemara
The Mayo Connemara’s had the largest number of rams through the ring at 68. The breed’s price ranged from €240 to €800 on the night. The average price for the breed was €489. Top priced ram of the breed on the night was Lot 88, a hogget ram, bred by Trevor Reilly, Co. Mayo. The breed had a clearance of 56%.
North Country Cheviot
The North Country Cheviot had 30 rams of the breed presented on the night with a 77% clearance. The breed average was €505 with a range from €200 to €840 on the day.
Top priced North Country Cheviot ram on the night was the last ram into the ring for the breed lot 158, a hogget bred by Martin & Jim McEneaney, Co Louth.
Cheviot
The Cheviot breed had the highest average price and breed clearance of the sale, and was the second largest number of rams through the ring. There were 51 rams through the ring, with an average of €599. Cheviots were in high demand with a price range of €260 to €1020. The top priced ram of the sale was a Cheviot hogget, Lot 215, bred by Pat Corrigan, Co. Kildare. The Cheviots had a clearance of 94%.
