Tuesday 8th May

Sheep with Lambs at Foot

The great annual show and sale of Hoggs with Lambs at foot, once again, created large interest from vendors and purchasers from throughout the north of England. Thanks must go to our pre-sale judges Richard and Jonathan Frankland who judged the Mules and Lesley and Megan Kendal who judged the Continental class, whom we thank for their time and expertise. Our thanks must also go to the sale day sponsor Cornthwaite Agriculture. The Championship rosette was awarded to Nick Brown & Charlotte Ormondroyd of Claughton, with their five Continental Hoggs with Beltex Lambs at foot. These later went onto sell for £230 an outfit to Frankland Farms. The Reserve Champion was awarded to Messrs G Sowerby of Ormside with a pen of five Mule Gimmer Hoggs with Suffolk Lambs, which sold to £250 to Mr M Robinson of Kendal.

A buoyant trade throughout the sale saw numerous pens of Hoggs with Lambs at foot selling over the £200 mark, with vendors leaving well satisfied. All Mule Hoggs with lambs forward averaged £196.48 and Continentals averaged £186.39.

The weekly sale of Sheep with lambs at foot had a similar number forward to the previous week selling to a sharper trade. Mule shearlings with twin lambs at foot sold to £205 and £202 from WI & AM Atkinson & Son, Bleasdale with Mule shearlings with singles selling to £178 from the same home. Continental Shearlings with single lambs sold to a top of £205 from T Morland of Tebay. Aged Mule ewes suckling strong Suffolk twins sold to £188 from CS & SE Wood, Penrith. More hill sheep coming onto the market now saw aged Herdwick ewes with twins sell to £122 from Kirkby & Longworth, Ulpha.

The second show and sale of Hoggs with Lambs at Foot will take place on Tuesday 22nd May.

Spring Lambs

The weekly sale of Spring lambs had an entry of 102 forward, with plenty of good lambs on offer this week saw an overall market average of 305p/kg. Topping the trade at £145 was Texel Lambs from IL Dixon, Cantsfield, weighing 43kg selling to 337p/kg. This was closely followed by Texel lambs weighing 39kg selling to 335p/kg from W Garnett & Son, Milnthorpe. Plenty of good conformation lambs sold in excess of 325p/kg.

Winner of this week’s £5 for the highest priced pen of 4 or less spring lambs went to IL Dixon of Cantsfield. The winner of the £10 for the highest priced pen of 5 or more went to S Proctor of Selside selling Dorsets to £137. Don’t forget this competition is running throughout of the month of May.

Prime Hoggs

There was over 600 Prime Hoggs forward, once again, at J36 selling to an overall market average 222p/kg with a very mixed entry on offer this week. Topping the trade this week were heavy weight Texel hoggs from J Woodburn & Partners, Ulverston. This was closely followed by heavy weight Suffolks from FI & ME Little, Barrows Green selling to £145. Plenty of well-fleshed hoggs sold in the £130. The weekly consignment from JG Harryman, Hawkshead topped the pence per kilo trade selling to 309p/kg for Beltex Hoggs, with others to 293p/kg.

Cast Sheep

The cast ewe numbers continue to come forward to J36 which meet a strong trade with over 400 forward again this week. Topping the trade was JF Cook, Witherslack with Suffolk ewes selling to £131, which was closely followed by Charollais ewes from JA & R Geldard & Sons, Levens selling to £123. Texel ewes sold twice to £115 from J Woodburn & Partners, Ulverston. Plenty of Continental ewes sold over the £100 mark. Mule ewes sold to a top of £92, again, from J Woodburn & Partners with plenty of heavy-weight Mule ewes selling in the eighties. Horned ewes sold to a top of £83 from FI & ME Little, Barrows Green, with plenty of fit horned ewes selling between £60 and £70.