PIGS

A sale made up of entirely prime pigs today, saw a top price of £222 for a pen of four Large White x pigs from JM Navesey, Darwen who sold others at £182. Prime gilts sold to £205 for heavy weight Large White x from W Stamper, Chipping with other heavy weight pigs selling to £182 from D Lord, Preesall and £180 from T Hornsby, Silloth. Light weight pigs sold to £175 for Pietrain x gilts from W Stamper. Top pence for kilo this week was 206p/kg achieved by JM Navesey, Darwen for Large White x hoggs and gilts, with other well finished Large White x pigs generally 165p/kg-185p/kg.
A small entry of cull sows sold to £100 and 45p/kg from JM Navesey, Darwen.
A large crowd of buyers in attendance with many leaving empty handed and keen to return at the next pig sale on Tuesday 13th June.

SPRING LAMBS

Trade improves week on week in the spring lamb section with more needed to satisfy our strong ringside of buyers at Junction 36. The sale topped at £188 for a pair of Beltex x lambs from D&K Swarbrick, Out Rawcliffe with Texel lambs selling to £183 from S Wilson & Son, Scotforth. Heavy lambs were keenly sort after and regularly selling at £165-£170. An improved trade for meated lighter lambs, with these types regularly selling at 345-360p/kg. Top pence per kilogram was 385p/kg attained by D&K Swarbrick, Out Rawcliffe. Butch type lambs were frequently selling at 370p/kg-380p/kg.

PRIME HOGGS

Once again a two tier trade was seen with meat keenly bid for and leaner grassy type hoggs meeting less demand. Texel hoggs sold to a top of £167 from E Dodgson, Kendal with others to £158 from WH Kitchen & Son, Helsington with heavy meated hoggs regularly selling at the £140-£150 mark. Mule saw a top of £147 from J&J Huck, Burneside with Cheviots selling to £140 from TE JS SA Carruthers, Underbarrow. A tremendous run of well finished hoggs from GM&A Jackson, Little Eccleston saw a ring full of Scotch hoggs at 42kg sell to £130.50. Meated hoggs are needed for the upcoming weeks, please advise Bradley Thompson with numbers.

SHEEP WITH LAMBS AT FOOT

Breeding sheep would be the dearest seen all season, a cracking run of Mule hoggs from Messrs Hayton, Colby saw a pen of twelve with Texel lambs sell to £260, with other pens of ten from the same good home selling to £240. RC Wharton & Son, Drybeck continue to bring smart bred hoggs which saw their best sell to £220.
The on-going flock reduction from P Mason, Burton in Kendal saw aged Texel ewes with Beltex twins sell to £300. Texel ewes from JM&NJ Strickland, Whinfell sold to £275. A pen of ten Mule ewes sucking Texel twin lambs form P Mason, Burton in Kendal sold to £240. Ewes sucking single lambs were in keen demand with the best seeing aged Texel ewes from JM&NJ Stickland, Whinfell sell to £205.
With the continued good weather and the grass growing, there is still plenty of demand for sheep with lambs at foot. Next week’s sale includes the second show for hoggs with lambs at foot, please contact the office with entries by Wednesday 23rd May.

CAST SHEEP

The weekly sale of cull ewes continue to sell at a fast trade, with all classes and types required to satisfy buyers demand. Heavy pure bred ewes sold to £172 for a Texel from E Dodgson, Kendal with Dutch spotted selling to £168 from AJ&EJ Platt, Barrow in Furness. Other Texels at £166 from Messrs Wightman & Mason, Burton and Beltexs achieving £158 from K Kenyon, Slaidburn. First x ewes sold to £146 for Suffolk x from JG&BJ Escolme, Killington and Texel x £146 from E Dodgson, Kendal. Cheviot Mules sold to £138 from TH&D Cornthwaite & Son, Cartmel Fell and North Country Mule to £114 from TH Garnett & Son, Stank. Hill bred ewes sold to £128 for Rough Fells from BJ Bainbridge, Shap, Cheviots to £112 from M Allen, Carnforth and Swaledales £104 from D Sharp, Lyth. Scotch Black Face £100 from G&ID Postlethwaite, Howgill and Herdwicks £96 from AT Threlkeld, Ulverston. All classes and types of ewes are good to sell, with mediums regularly £85-£100 and the leanest £60£-70, depending on breed and quality.
Cull rams sold to £166 for a Charolais from R&EM Gardner, Briggsteer with Beltex x selling to £156 from AE Atkinson & Son, Endmoor and Texels £150 from A Wilson, Tebay. Hill bred rams sold to £112 for Rough Fells from S&W Dickinson, Tebay with Cheviots £106, Swaledales £90 and Herdwicks £80.
The cull ewe trade is forecast to remain strong, with sellers encouraged to take advantage of the strong trade.