“Spring lamb has opened up at €6.40/kg which is far too low of a price for the quality product that they are getting. Spring lamb is a very specialised product that requires additional costs and labour on the part of the farmer”, he said.

“ICSA would also call on factories to increase the weight limit on spring lamb from 20kg to 22kg. There is no evidence to suggest that consumers are asking about the weight of the carcass when making their lamb purchases. For us, it’s simply another way of unfairly penalising farmers when they go to sell their produce.”

Continuing, Mr Brooks said “If we do not value the additional efforts that farmers put in to produce this premium product in time for peak demand periods such as Easter, it will cease to be a worthwhile endeavour. It is a much sought after product and we must reimburse producers for the additional costs associated with its production.

In addition, we are also seeing that hoggets are 30c to 40c down on the price producers were achieving at this time last year. There is no justification for this drop. I would call on all factories to immediately reassess their position on these issues.”