CULL SHEEP
Plenty of interest in ewes with another alley full of all classes and types, all sold today average £132. Just a handful of the stronger end continentals forward today selling to £202 for Texels from CD&HL Mason with others £200 TR Prickett and £196 D&K Swarbrick, mediums were generally £150 to £170. Charollais cross sold to £194 from D&K Swarbrick, who enjoyed a good day selling Dutch Spotted at £186, Cheviot Mule £178, North Country Mule £166, Dorset £166 and Easy Cares £144. Pure hill ewes saw Cheviots sell to £168 from G Beresford & Son and Swaledale £124, Herdwick £86.
More ewes required each week to satisfy buyers demand.

PRIME LAMBS
Lambs numbers continue to rise with buyers showing preference towards hard fed lambs and more cautious to under finished and grass finished lambs. Texel cross lambs sold to £173 from P Whitton & Son with others £171 KA Purtill, £168 CD&HL Mason and DR Preston. Standard weights nicely selling between £140 to £150, topping at £165 from G Beresford & Son. Several pens of lighter weights selling to £120 for Cheviots and Texel cross.
CD&HL Mason lead todays sale with Beltex cross lambs achieving 375p/kg, with others 367p/kg from G Beresford & Son, better end lambs were 330p/kg-350p/kg, grass finished 305p/kg-320p/kg, with several pens of under finished / out of specification lambs less.
An overall market average of 313p/kg for lambs ranging from 35kg to 73kg.
Lambs are required to be belly clipped next week to meet FSA requirements. A team of clippers will be available from 7am, vendors are encouraged to arrive as early as possible to allow for a prompt sale start time of 10am.

STORE LAMBS
Just a handful forward this week and falling short of buyer’s requirements, long keep Texel sold to £107, with others £99.