Sheep with Lambs at Foot

North West Auctions had its Annual Show and Sale of ewes and shearlings with twin lambs at foot. Grateful thanks goes to our pre-sale judge Alisdair Prickett for his time and expertise, with a special mention also going to our sponsor Massey Feeds and their representative Mark Gorst. The Championship rosette was awarded to G & KM Atkinson, Colby with their first prize pen of Mule shearlings that went on to sell to £285. The Reserve Champion was awarded to a pen of Continental shearlings with twins from the same home selling to £295.

The weekly sale of sheep with lambs at foot had the largest entry to date this season, with 232 families forward. These were met by the greatest demand of the season with all ages and classes of sheep easily bid for. There was a cracking consignment from Paul Chester, Kirkby Stephen who led the way selling a pen of Beltex ewes with twin Beltex lambs to £390, other outfits from the same good home sold to £360 and £320. Beltex cross shearlings with twin Beltex lambs sold to £305 from AC & E Dent, Barnard Castle. Mule shearlings with twin lambs regularly sold between the £250 - £290 mark. Full mouthed Mule ewes with Texel twin lambs sold to £238 from R Lawrence, Grange-over-sands, with plenty of aged Mule ewes selling in excess of £220. The sale of sheep with lambs at foot takes place on a weekly basis with more consignments required.

Spring Lamb

Junction 36 boasted the largest entry of spring lambs so far this season with an entry of 68 forward. There was an overall market average of 345p/kg with a larger number of heavy weight lambs on the market today, with handy weights averaging 355p/kg. W Garnett & Son, Milnthorpe took top spot selling a pen of four Suffolks to £171, closely followed by Messrs Wales, Carlisle selling Charollais to £170. Also achieving £170 were 42kg Texel lambs from RW & S Nicholson, Lupton. Beltex cross lambs sold to a top of 416p/kg weighing 37kg from Alisdair Prickett, Farleton. Best confirmation lambs were in the highest demand today selling in the region of £4/kilo. All Spring lambs today averaged 144.27p/kg.

Prime Hoggs

Junction 36’s offering of prime hoggs had the full spectrum forward, as to be expected for the time of year. Handy weighted, well meated hoggs continue to be in strong demand, regularly selling in excess of 300p/kg mark. Best hoggs sold to 375 p/kg from JG Harryman, Hawkshead who also sold Cheviots to 360p/kg. Heavy weight Suffolks sold to a top of £186 from Mathew Horner, Scorton. Heavy weight Beltex hoggs sold to a top of £170 or 340p/kg from GM & A Jackson, Little Eccleston with other Texels from the same home selling to £165. Beltex hoggs from ST Birkett & Son, Carnforth sold to £167. Plenty of heavy weight hoggs easily sold in excess of the £150 mark. Hill bred hoggs saw Cheviots sell to a top of £146 from GM & A Jackson, Little Eccleston who also topped the horned section selling Scotch Blackfaces to £131 and Herdwicks to £128. The overall market average for hoggs was 284p/kg, with handy weights averaging 299p/kg with an entry that included many consigners sweeping ups.

Cast Sheep

The weekly sale of 500 cull ewes all sold to another strong trade at J36. Texel ewes once again led the way selling to £178 from WW & D Boow, Bootle with all Texel ewes forward averaging £132. JA & R Geldard & Sons, Gilpin Bridge sold a run of Charollais ewes to a top of £173. Many Continental ewes were selling into the £130 – £140 mark. Mule ewes were all keenly bid for and topped at £130 from A & B Fell, Silecroft with others to £128 twice from Drinkall Bros, Over Wyresdale and S Procter, Selside. Medium type fit Mules were selling at £110 – £150. All Mules forward averaged £105. Blue Faced Leicesters sold to £150 from A Prickett and £149 from D Sharp, Lyth. DE & J Waine, Longsleddale sold Teeswater ewes to £150.

Hill ewes were the trade of the day topping at £146 for Cheviots from A Prickett, Farleton with Swaledales selling to £124 from Drinkall Bros and others selling to £122 from R & EA Gardner, Brigsteer. Medium type Swaledales sold between the £80 – £90 mark. A pen full of Rough Fell ewes from JamesWhitton, Cartmel sold to £128. All Herdwicks were a strong trade again, topping at £95 from F & TE Park, Crook with others selling to £81 from AJ & L Birkett, Little Langdale.

All cull rams were keenly bid for with Texels selling to £165 from CR Alderson & Son, Mallerstang, Suffolks peaked at £156 from D Sharp, Lyth, with hill bred rams selling to £111 for Herdwicks from A J Hartley, Seathwaite with Swaledales selling to £106 from CR Alderson, Mallerstang.