Sheep with Lambs at Foot
NWA once again had a strong entry of sheep with lambs at foot with 210 families forward consisting of 70 shearlings and the rest mixed aged ewes.
Texel shearlings with twin lambs led the way selling to £270 from J & M Wilson, Selside whom sold Mule shearlings with twin lambs to £260. Mule shearlings and twin lambs from G & KM Atkinson, Appleby sold to £265 and £262 with 1 crop Mule ewes from the same home selling to £265. A consignment of Mule ewes with twin Suffolk lambs sold to £250 five times from MJ & JD Handley, Sedbergh. Continental ewes with twin lambs peaked at £270 from Messrs Williamson, Colby followed by other Continental ewes with twin lambs selling to £265 from A Barnes, Heversham. Mule ewes with young Texel twin lambs sold to £220 from JA Alderson, Kirkby Stephen.
Continental ewes with single lambs sold to £195 from Messrs Williamson, Colby.
Buyers today were keen for strong outfits with well fed lambs, with second rate outfits less money in comparison to the flying trade next week.
Spring Lambs
The largest entry of Spring Lambs so far to date, saw 100 forward. Taking top spot this week were heavy weight Continental lambs from W Garnett & Son, Milnthorpe selling to £158, with others from the same home selling to £146. Native bred lambs met plenty of demand with Hampshires selling to £156 from J & O Galbraith & Son, Endmoor, purchased by Plumgarths Farm Shop. Dorset lambs peaked at £150 from S Procter, Selside. There were plenty of Spring lambs selling in the region of £140.
Beltex x lambs sold to a top of 394p/kg from FE &CM Robinson & Son, Crooklands with an overall market average of 330p/kg with handy weights averaging 338p/kg.
Prime Hoggs
There was an entry of 600 Prime hoggs forward which saw the quality on offer being mixed, as to be expected at this time of year. Well fleshed hoggs, properly finished continue to sell to a premium well in excess of 300p/kg. An overall market of 287p/kg.
Heavy weight Continentals from Ellen Procter, Ulverston sold to £170 and £167 with Suffolks from the same home achieving £159. Beltex hoggs from GM & A Jackson, Little Eccleston sold to £168. Other Suffolk hoggs sold to £159 from RH M & S Boyren, Colton with plenty of pens of heavy weight hoggs selling between £140 – £155. The consignment of hoggs from AW & AM Clarke, Windermere sold the top priced Mules today at £138 with Swaledales from the same home achieving £137. Cheviot hoggs peaked today at £138 from GM & A Jackson, Little Eccleston. J36 once again boasted a busy ring of buyers whom have a strong demand for hoggs and more are required each week.
Cast Sheep
The sale of 440 ewes saw heavy and well fleshed ewes continue to sell to a strong trade with leaner, medium type ewes being harder to place today. TW Gorst, Crook sold a run of Charollais ewes to a top of £168 with others from the same home selling to £156. Texels saw a peak of £155 from M & RW Stirzaker, Milnthorpe with many of best Texel ewes selling at £130 plus.
Leicester ewes from M Bateman & Son, Sedbergh sold to £151. A pen of heavy Suffolk ewes from RW & SA Nicholson, Lupton sold to £133. Many good Continental bred ewes were selling between £125 – £130, with the next level down easily selling over the £100 mark.
There was a bigger show of Mule ewes forward with all being keenly bid for with the best selling at £110 plus and a top of £120 from MA Barnes, Whinfell. Medium type Mule ewes sold at £95 – £100. A pen full of Cheviot Mules from RW & SA Nicholson, Lupton topped at £122.
Strong hill ewes were still selling to a fast trade with Cheviots once again peaking this section at £118 from JR & A Airey, Ravenstonedale with others from the same home selling to £107. Rough Fell ewes topped at £113 from W & J Penny, Kirkby in Furness with Swaledale ewes topping at £100 from R Lawrence, Grange over sands with medium Swaledale ewes selling in the mid to late £50 mark.
All cast rams sold to another fast trade at J36, with Leicesters leading the way at £160 from AW & AM Clarke, Windermere with other Leicesters selling to £150 twice from R HM & S Boyren, Colton and WM & JE Shuttleworth, Barbon. Texels sold to £142 from TW Gorst, Crook with hill bred tups topping at £100 for a Herdwick top from MR Toms, Langdale.