CAST SHEEP

A much plainer show of sheep today, with a large portion being leaner hill bred sheep.
A handful of stronger ewes today were eagerly bid for, with Texels to £215 from J Woodburn & Partners, Ulverston and Suffolks £205 from E Needham, Stainton. Others were generally £188 to £202. Mules peaked at £198 for Cheviot Mules again from J Woodburn & Partners. Other stronger end ewes were £165 to £180, mediums £145 to £158 and leaner sorts for feeding £118 to £130. Pure hill ewes sold to £150 for Cheviots, £118 Rough Fells, £118 SBF, £110 Swaledale, £108 Lonk and £94 Herdwick. Medium hill ewes £80 to £95, with smaller and leaner sorts generally £55 to £70, with a handful less.
Cull rams sold to £225 for continentals with other mediums £170 to £200, with smaller and hill rams £115 to £145.

PRIME LAMBS & HOGGS

Sunny day all round for spring lamb sellers.
Lambs started the afternoon of in good fashion with Dorsets selling to 414.6p/kg for three weighing 41kg from D&DW Prickett, Farleton. Two other runs of lambs sold again to the £170 mark, a pair of Texels from C Bennett, St Michaels and a single Suffolk from Messrs Young, Lindale. An overall average of 377p/kg was achieved, with buyers hungry for many more. Do not hesitate to get in touch before next weeks sale.
Hoggs face more resistance on the week, a poorer show of mainly leaner hoggs and a less buoyant trade in line with the national trend, sees a lesser average from last Tuesday. Late 30kg to mid 40kg saw the best trade on the day, with especially good meat being well bid for. Texels sold to 350p/kg from J Mason, Carnforth for a 39kg hogg. A pair of 38kg Texels hit the 330p/kg mark. Handy weight Texels from TR Prickett, Hutton Roof sold to £140, while heavies topped at £167 for a pair from SH&LE Birkett, Carnforth.
Next weeks sale starts at the usual time of 1pm, commencing with spring lambs.

BREEDING SHEEP

Shearling averaged £318.76, topped at £450.
Ewes averaged £262.96, topped at £425.

A smaller show exhibited today at Junction 36, Trade varied on the whole but top quality goods were possibly dearer. Today had a diverse run of sheep including the first show of horned ewes, which included Swaledale with Mule lambs and a large run of Herdwicks.
Topping todays trade was G&KM Atkinson, Appleby with a pen of five Texels shearlings with twins at £450. The single trade was topped by A Guy, Kendal with a Beltex ewe with a tup lamb making £280. Special mention goes to Edwin Winder with a Dutch Spotted ewe with Dutch Spotted lamb at £270, the lamb was born at the end of March. There isn’t many things that make the auctioneer look small, but this lamb nearly did - it was massive!

Thursday is the annual hogg and lamb sale at junction 36, with some ewes and lambs also available. Around 400 families present, with top quality on offer. Contact the office or auctioneers for more details.

Texel ewes with twins topped at £425 from FB Dunning & Son.
Texel ewes with singles topped at £242 from RT Colbear.
Texel shearlings with twins topped at £450 from G&KM Atkinson.
Texel shearlings with singles topped at £252 from D Wilkinson.
Mules ewes with twins topped at £360 from G&KM Atkinson.
Mule ewes with singles topped at £335 from JM&NJ Strickland.
Beltex ewes with singles topped at £280 from A Guy.
Dutch Spotted ewes with singles topped at £270 from E Winder.
Swaledale ewes with twins topped at £200 from N Allen.
Swaledale ewes with singles topped at £165 from N Allen.
Hampshire ewes with twins topped at £262 from A Metcalfe.