There was a busy ringside of buyers forward for this fortnight’s sale of Store Lambs at Junction 36. A strong contingent of buyers from the south are now present, with the winter grass keep and stubble crops now available.
All classes of lambs sold to a sharper trade, with strong Continental and Suffolk lambs selling well in to the sixties. February-April lambs were in strong demand today, with buyers now in the market looking for long keep lambs.
Trade today was topped by a pen of Texel lambs forward from IE&MA Taylor of High Deepslack selling to £69.50 per head, closely followed by AT Threlkeld Ltd of Bowkerstead Farm at £68.50, with all Texel lambs in the market achieving an average of £56.59 per head.
Suffolk lambs sold to a top of £67 from SE Harrison of Force Mill, to average £54.87 and Charollais x lambs to £60.50 from T Sharp of Gateside Farm to average £52.28.
Hill bred lambs looking sharper than the previous sale and in demand. Cheviot lambs topped at £60.50 from LA&M Lambert of Brow Head, with Mules selling to £58, twice, from MK Robinson of Roundthwaite and JA&CA Gibson of Longwell. Horned lambs looking particularly well sold today, with Rough Fells topping the section at £45.00 from K&A Nicholson of Applegarth.
An entry of just short of 2500 lambs forward for sale, selling to an overall market average of £49.81 for a complete clearance, of an entry that contained a high number of long keep and hill bred lambs.