Latest news with #Roscommon-based
Agriland
09-06-2025
- Business
- Agriland
Sheep trade: Spring lamb prices fall below €9.00/kg
This week's sheep trade has seen offers for spring lambs fall below €9.00/kg at all the key sheep factories. Up to 20c/kg has been cut from spring lamb prices, and many of the processors are less interested in hoggets as markets have now moved on to this year's lambs. Procurement staff have told Agriland that there are 'reasonably good numbers of spring lambs' coming available and these lambs are generally all arriving well finished with good carcasses. This week, Kepak is quoting €8.65/kg plus a 15c/kg Quality Assurance (QA) bonus for spring lambs, leaving €8.80/kg on offer here up to 21kg carcass weight. This offer is down 20c/kg since last week. The Athleague, Co. Roscommon-based processor is quoting €7.00/kg plus a 15c/kg QA bonus for hoggets up to 23kg carcass weight leaving €7.15/kg on offer here. This price offer is back 25c/kg from last Tuesday. Kepak is quoting €4.80 and €4.90/kg for cull ewes. Irish Country Meats (ICM) is quoting €8.70/kg plus a 20c/kg QA bonus for spring lambs, leaving €8.90/kg on offer here up to 21kg carcass weight. This price is down 10c/kg since last Tuesday. The Navan, Co. Meath and Camolin, Co. Wexford-based outlets are quoting €7.00/kg plus a 20c/kg QA bonus for hoggets, leaving €7.20/kg on offer here to 23kg carcass weight. This offer is down 30c/kg since last week. ICM is quoting €4.75/kg for cull ewes – down 25c/kg since last week. Ballon Meats in Co. Carlow is quoting €8.60/kg for spring lambs and €5.30/kg for cull ewes. Kildare Chilling has no official quotes this week but farmer-sources have told Agriland the factory is paying approximately €8.80/kg for spring lambs, €7.30/kg for QA hoggets and €5.00/kg for QA cull ewes. Sheep trade at Kilkenny Mart There were 450 sheep on offer at Kilkenny Mart today (Monday, June 9), with spring lamb prices described as 'disappointing and €20-30/head behind 2024 prices at this time of year,' according to auctioneer George Candler. The top call for spring lambs in the sale was €220/head or €4.31/kg for a pen of 10 lambs with an average weight of 51kg.
Irish Daily Mirror
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
Irish festival announces saunas and cold-water plunges to help music fans unwind
Thousands of festival-goers are set to unwind in saunas and cold-water plunges at Night and Day Festival. The Roscommon-based festival announced a full wellness programme to take place across the weekend, which kicks off on June 27 until 29. Festival-goers will be able to unwind and recharge at Night and Day with an expansive offering of wellness activities. Commenting on the announcement of the wellness programme, Carla and Olivia said: "Thank you to Night & Day for giving us this opportunity to participate and help organise the Wellness area. It has been a great experience, and we can't wait for the festival weekend to see it all put together and meet everyone." Night and Day co-founder Craig Hughes said: "We have wanted to enhance our wellness offering for some time so it is great to see it come to fruition. "Festivalgoers will be able to unwind and recharge each morning before dancing into the early hours each night!" Perched on the embankment overlooking Lough Key, Lough Allen adventures will be running their hot tub, sauna and cold plunge sessions. Ce Sauna will operate on the opposite side of the lake in a more secluded part of the festival. On Saturday morning, the wellness schedule will consist of Pilates by Aisling Dolan, Quantum Riki and sound healing experience with Bailey Barbour, a partner yoga and massage workshop by West Coast Wellness, followed by an outdoor yoga session with Nicole O'Kelly. On Sunday morning, Roscommon native Oisin O'Dowd will host a breathwork session followed by Restore and Flow yoga with Nicole O'Kelly. Attendees are required to bring their own yoga mats with them. Radiant Spaces will curate a calming chill out area for festivalgoers to unwind inside while looking out overlooking the tranquil Lough Key. The programme has been curated by students of the BBus (Hons) Tourism & Event Management course at ATU Sligo Carla Taylor and Olivia Elis. Full details and booking information can be found here. Acts previously announced to play Night and Day include; José González, KT Tunstall, The Wailers, The Stunning, Lisa Hannigan, Paul Brady, Sultans of Ping, Adwaith, Fionn Regan, Daithi, Joshua Burnside, Bog Bodies, Yard, Dark Isle, DUG, Frank, Skinner, Harvest (A Tribute to Neil Young), Shark School and James Keegan. Festival-goers can also explore the beautiful grounds and campsite at Lough Key Forest Park. Families will also be able to avail of the on-site activities such as zip-lining courses, forest trails and a tree-top walk. Tickets for Night and Day are on sale now at for €185 for weekend adult camping tickets, with children's tickets costing €2. Day tickets are also on sale now; Friday (€55), Saturday (€88) and Sunday (€88).
Agriland
03-06-2025
- Business
- Agriland
Sheep trade: Eid festival fails to bring expected price rises
This week's sheep trade sees some of the stronger spring lamb, hogget and cull ewe prices reduced from last Monday's price offers as the Muslim festival of Eid al Adha on Friday, June 6, has failed to bring any factory price positivity. Speaking to Agriland, Tullow Mart's Eric Driver said that a change in the interpretation of a rule last year has had an impact on the live trade for Irish lambs going to mainland Europe. The mart manager said that this year, the export demand was only for lambs going direct to slaughter as opposed to previous years where lambs could go for further feeding. This, he said, reduced the window of the alternative-market opportunity to a shorter period of time. Driver said: 'A €10/head premium was available. The 47-53kg ram lambs were making €4.30/kg, that's €197 for 46kg. A 46kg ewe or ram lamb today, €186 would be a very good price. 'The most important point is we took away a little bit of independence from the meat industry for the last 10 days.' Sheep trade: Factory price offers This week, Kepak is quoting €9.00/kg for Quality Assured (QA) spring lambs up to 21kg. This is the same price offer here as last Monday. The Athleague, Co. Roscommon-based factory is quoting €7.40/kg for QA hoggets up to 23kg carcass weight. Kepak is quoting €5.00-5.10/kg for cull ewes. Irish Country Meats (ICM), which is currently running a competition for young sheep farmers, is quoting €8.80/kg plus a 20c/kg QA bonus for spring lambs, leaving €9.00/kg on offer here up to 21kg carcass weight. This price is back €0.20c/kg from last Monday. The Navan, Co. Meath and Camolin, Co. Wexford-based factories are quoting €7.30/kg plus a 20c/kg QA bonus, leaving €7.50/kg on offer here for hoggets up to 23kg carcase weight. ICM is quoting €5:00/kg for cull ewes. Kildare Chilling has no official quotes for this week however, Agriland understands the outlet is paying farmers up to €9.00/kg for spring lambs, €7.20/kg for hoggets and €5.00/kg for cull ewes. Ballon Meats in Co. Carlow is quoting €8.80/kg for spring lambs and €5.30/kg for cull ewes. Sheep kill Sheep kill numbers continue to trend below last year, with the 2025 cumulative sheep kill down 17% or 161,000 head from the same time of last year. 33,000 sheep were slaughtered in week 20 this year, down 18% from the 41,000 sheep slaughtered in the same week of last year.
Agriland
26-05-2025
- Business
- Agriland
Sheep trade: Heavy ewe and hogget price cuts this week
This week's sheep trade has seen processors move to cut prices for ewes and hoggets and hold spring lamb prices for the first half of the week. Up to 50c/kg has been cut from both cull ewe and hogget prices this week, with hogget price now having fallen €1.30/kg since the start of April. The price cuts come ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha on Friday, June 6, and many farmers had expected price rises in the sheep trade in advance of this, but to date this has failed to materialise. Factory prices This week, Kepak is quoting €7.35/kg plus a 15c/kg Quality Assurance (QA) bonus for hoggets up to 23kg carcass-weight, leaving €7.50/kg on offer here. This offer is back 50c/kg from last Monday. The Athleague, Co. Roscommon-based factory is quoting €8.85/kg plus a 15c/kg QA bonus for spring lambs up to 21kg carcass-weight leaving €9.00/kg on offer here – the same price as last week. Kepak is quoting €5.00-€5.10/kg for cull ewes up to 46kg carcase weight. This price is back 50c/kg from last week. Irish Country Meats (ICM) is quoting €9.00/kg plus a 20c/kg QA bonus for spring lambs up to 21kg carcase weight leaving €9.20/kg on offer here until Tuesday, May 27. This price is at the same level as last week. The Navan, Co. Meath and Camolin, Co. Wexford based outlet is quoting €7.50/kg plus a 20c/kg QA bonus for hoggets up to 23g carcase weight leaving €7.70/kg on offer here. This price is back 30c/kg from last week. ICM is quoting €5.00/kg for cull ewes – back 50c/kg from last week. Kildare Chilling has no official quotes this week but sources have told Agriland the outlet is paying €7.50/kg for hoggets and €8.80-9.00/kg for QA spring lambs. It is understood the processor has less interest in cull ewes this week but is paying €5/kg for these. Eid lifts sheep trade at Kilkenny Mart There was a smaller sale of sheep at Kilkenny Mart today (Monday, May 26) with 350 head on offer. Speaking to Agriland after the sale, auctioneer George Chandler said: 'Spring lambs met a better trade this week especially ram lambs which attracted more interest due to the Eid al-Adha festival.' Spring lamb prices at the sale peaked at €227/head for 10 lambs averaging 48kg. Another pen of 10 ram lambs weighing 42kg made €184/head. Hoggets made from €180-200/head in the sale with 25 hoggets weighing 59kg each making €200/head. Another 19 hoggets weighing 66kg each made €199/head. Cull ewes made from €70-320/head in the sale.
Agriland
28-04-2025
- Business
- Agriland
Sheep trade: Prices remain more steady for this week
This week's sheep trade has seen more stability on pricing front following last week's cuts to both spring lambs and hogget prices. Despite one outlet reducing its official price quote for hoggets by 5c/kg this week, other processors have held their hogget price quotes as well as the spring lamb and cull ewe prices. As of Sunday, April 20, the cumulative sheep kill to date this year is 18% or almost 150,000 head below the same time last year. This week, Irish Country Meats (ICM) is quoting €9.00/kg plus a 20c/kg Quality Assurance (QA) bonus for spring lambs leaving €9.20/kg on offer up to 21kg carcass weight. The Navan, Co. Meath and Camolin, Co. Wexford-based outlet is quoting €8.50/kg plus a 20c/kg QA bonus for hoggets leaving €8.70/kg on offer here up to 23kg carcass weight. ICM is quoting €5.50/kg for cull ewes this week. Kepak is quoting €9.05/kg plus a 15c/kg QA bonus for spring lambs this week leaving €9.20/kg on offer here up to 21kg carcass weight. The Athleague, Co. Roscommon-based processor is quoting €8.50/kg plus a 15c/kg QA bonus for hoggets leaving €8.65/kg on offer here up to 23kg carcass weight. Kepak is quoting €5.40-5.50/kg for ewes up to 46kg carcass weight this week. Kildare Chilling has no official quote for hoggets or spring lambs this week but is quoting €5.60/kg plus a 10c/kg QA bonus for cull ewes from 35-43kg carcass weight leaving €5.70/kg on offer for these. Kildare Chilling is quoting €5.50/kg plus a 10c/kg QA bonus for cull ewes from 25-35kg carcass weight leaving €5.60/kg on offer for these. Ballon Meats has no official quotes for this week. Hogget and spring lamb prices have declined since Easter but there remains some level of confidence among farmers that some price recovery in the sheep trade could be seen into May and June.
