Tuesday 27th March

Prime Pigs

A small entry of 13 Prime Pigs forward this month, with trade back on the month before as seen nationally. The trade was topped by A Preston of Whitehaven achieving £125 five times, with NJ Wilkinson of New House achieving 147p/kg. An overall average of 115.84p/kg being achieved.

Sheep with Lambs at Foot

A smaller show of Sheep with Lambs at Foot forward at Junction 36, with 54 families forward for sale. The trade slightly easier on the week before, with purchasers being selective due to current grazing and weather conditions. All vendors satisfied with trade, with an overall average of £54.48 per life being achieved for all sheep forward.

The trade was topped by a pen of pure Charollais Shearlings with Twin Lambs forward from Julie Fell of Bootle selling for £205 per family, selling others with Singles to £170. Ewes with Lambs sold to a top of £182 from Tony Ellis of New Hutton for Mules with Twins, with others to £180. TW Gorst of Crook also selling Mules Ewes with Twin Lambs to £180.

Entries for next week (3rd April) already include consignments of Mule Ewes with Texel Lambs at Foot

Spring Lambs

The opening sale of Spring Lambs, which included the Easter Spring Show, had an entry of 29 forward. The pre-sale judging was put in to the capable hands of Raymond Matterson of Bootle. The judge had two classes placed in front of him, one for Continental bred lambs and the other for Native bred. The Continental class was won by JD & V Towers & Son of Farleton for their Beltex x Charollais lamb weighing 46kg, which went on to achieve the Championship honours. The native class was won by GI Richmond of Garstang with a 58kg Suffolk.

A fantastic sale followed, where the Champion went on to achieve the days top price selling for £177 or 384.8p/kg, purchased by MN Alam of Lancashire Direct Halal Meat Ltd. The best Native bred lamb from GI Richmond, went on to achieve £152 or 262.1p/kg, with the judge backing his decision, purchasing the lamb on behalf of Irvings Butchers of Ulverston.

An overall average for Spring Lambs was achieved of 228.67p/kg, reflecting a show where the majority entry were Native Bred lambs.

Prime Hoggs

An entry of 700 Prime Hoggs were forward at J36 today, where a fantastic trade was seen for all classes, with an overall SQQ average of 228.27p/kg achieved. The Hogg section was topped by pure Lleyns from JA&R Geldard & Sons of Gilpin Bridge at £138, with others to £134. F&SA Edmondson of Ulverston sold Suffolks to £136. George Harryman of Hawkshead topped the market at 318.4p/kg with a fantastic run of 108 Hoggs which went on to average £116.27 which included Beltex, Texel, Suffolk and Mules. The majority of hoggs forward today were within the medium weight bracket (39-45kgs) which saw an average of 238p/kg.

An excellent trade which was reflected by 42.5% of the Hoggs forward achieving £100 or more.

Cast Sheep

A smaller entry of cast ewes in the market today with the trade continuing to be very strong. Large Continental ewes were in strong demand and more could have been easily sold. This week’s sale saw the most ewes selling in excess of £120 for some time. The trade topped at £147 for Charollais ewes from Julie Fell of Bootle, followed by Beltex ewes to £141 from B & AC Barnes of Middleton. Tups topped at £136 for Beltex from AR & C Fawcett of Gosforth, Continental tups from the same home to £131. Mule and Masham ewes continue to be a sharp trade. Masham ewes sold to £104 from T Ellis of New Hutton closely followed by £98 from E Lund and Son of Ingleton. Mule ewes sold to £97 from J & M Wilson of Selside, with plenty of pens of strong mule ewes selling in the nineties. Horned ewes sold to £80 for Swaledales from F & SA Edmondson of Ulverston with plenty of fit horned ewes around the seventy pound mark.