Sheep with Lambs at Foot

The annual prize show and sale of Ewes and Shearlings with lambs at foot saw a bumper entry of over 600 lives forward. Thanks goes to our judge Mr A Prickett and to our sponsors Mulberry Finance, Rural Law Practice and Natural Stockcare. There was a very buoyant trade for good quality young sheep with buyers looking for replacements. Leading the way today was Mule Shearlings with Texel Twin lambs from G & KM Atkinson, Appleby selling to £245 for the first prize pen. The second prize pen of shearlings sold to £232 from M Atkinson, Burneside and the third prize pen to £220 from I Atkinson, Scorton. Other Mule shearlings sold to £222 from J & M Wilson, Selside. Continental Shearlings with Texel twins sold to a top of £235 and £230 from JA Chapman, Kendal. Continental Ewes topped at £210 from P Stephenson, Rathmel with Mule ewes with twins selling to the same price from G & KM Atkinson, Appleby. Full mouthed Continental Ewes with twins at foot sold to £195 and £190 from MB Flatman & Son, Over Wyresdale. Mule shearlings with singles sold to a top of £145 from I Atkinson.

Spring Lambs

The annual show and sale of Spring Lambs at J36 saw an entry of 97 for the sale. A big thank you goes to our judge Mr R Matterson and to our sponsors Mulberry Finance, Rural Law Practice and Natural Stockcare. A strong line up of lambs were presented for the show which saw the Championship Rosette awarded to B & AC Barnes, Kirkby Lonsdale with a 43kg Beltex x Lamb selling to 348p/kg or £150 purchased by Brown’s Quality Meats, Ulverston. The Reserve Champion was awarded to the same home with a Suffolk weighing 45kg selling to 302p/kg or £136, with Dorsets selling to £130. The consignment from MJ Waller, Lupton sold Texels to 315p/kg and 309p/kg or £145 and £133 with two further pens from the same home selling to £130. Beltex lambs sold to £129 from FE & CM Robinson & Son, Crooklands, Texels to £128 from W Garnett & Son, Milnthorpe, Suffolks to £127 from A & B Fell, Millom with other Suffolks to £126 from D Metcalfe, Dalton-in-Furness and Charollais to £126 from PW Rhodes, Ulverston. There was an overall market of 252p/kg with an SQQ of 254p/kg.

Prime Hoggs

A slightly smaller entry of Prime Hoggs today sold to a stronger trade than anticipated with a shortage of good quality hoggs on offer today. Well-fed and well-finished handy weight hoggs were easily selling in excess of 200p/kg. Leading the way today was JG Harryman, Hawkshead with Beltexs selling to 274p/kg, 269p/kg, 242p/kg or £115 twice, £109, and £108. This was closely followed by F & CE Bentley & Son, Shap selling to 236p/kg or £104. Heavy weight Charollais hoggs sold to £113 and £104 from PW Rhodes, Ulverston. Suffolk hoggs topped at £100 from F & SA Edmondson, Ulverston who sold Mules to £90 with other Mules selling to £89 from DC Miller, Claughton on Brock with Mashams from the same home selling to £88. Cheviots sold to a top of £85 or 217p/kg with Herdwicks selling to 212p/kg from MR Toms, Ambleside.

There was an overall market average of 190p/kg.

Cast Sheep

There was a smaller entry of cast ewes forward this week with all types of ewes a sharper trade and in more demand from our seven active buyers. Leading the way today was the consignment from D Metcalfe, Dalton-in-Furness whos Suffolk tups sold to £130 and £122 with Suffolk ewes selling to £121. Texel ewes topped at £125 from AW Crowe, Witherslack with other Texel ewes selling to £108 from DR & C Galbraith, Grayrigg. Charollais ewes sold to £110 from PW Rhodes, Ulverston. Plenty of other Continental and Suffolk ewes easily sold around the one hundred pound mark. Mule ewes sold to a top of £89 from F & SA Edmondson, Ulverston with others to £86 from S Marson & Son, Orton. Plenty of pens of strong Mule ewes sold into the early eighties, with all Mule ewes forward selling to a market average of £75.31. Horned ewes sold to a top of £76 for Rough Fells from G & ID Postlethwaite, Howgills with Swaledale ewes topping at £74 from F & SA Edmondson. Herdwick ewes sold to £72 from WG & D Wilkinson, Blawith. Leaner types of ewes were noticeably selling to a sharper trade this week. Cast tups were also a noticeably sharper trade today with Beltexs selling to £113 from WG & D Wilkinson and Rough Fells to £108 from BJ Bainbridge, Shap.

All cast sheep forward sold a market average of £71.79.