CONSUMERS CAN expect to pay very high prices this year for their Easter lamb as factories and butchers paid out record amounts for the meat.
They have been paying farmers up to 700c/kg for top quality lambs in the last 10 days as Easter demand drove the price higher, the equivalent of €135 to €140 for a 20kg carcase. This is being reflected at meat counters across the country.
While a high proportion of Irish-produced lamb is exported to France, there has been a growing demand for good quality Irish lamb on the home market.
Prices are expected to drop for both farmers and consumers at the end of next week as more lamb becomes available for slaughter.
Irish sheep farmers have had a number of very difficult years and the national flock has fallen from a high of 5 million ewes to 2.2 million breeding ewes. However in the last year, the future has looked brighter with better prices on offer as the EU is only 75 per cent self-sufficient in sheep meat.
A major promotion of Irish lamb both at home and on continental markets has brought a new demand and energy into the sector, which contains Ireland’s poorest farmers.
Ireland is currently the sixth largest sheep producer in the EU but is the largest net exporter of sheep meat. Some 70 per cent of the output is exported.
In its recent “roadmap” predictions for the future of the sector, Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority, said it expected the number of sheep flocks to decrease from the current 32,232 flocks to 30,000 by 2018.
The majority of flocks are based in lowland areas where 75 per cent of the farmers are based. The latest figures on flock size from 2009 showed that 17.7 per cent of flocks had more than 150 sheep.