Prime Hoggs

The weekly sale of Prime Hoggs had a slightly smaller entry of 435 forward selling to an increased and sharper trade for all types of hoggs. There was an overall market average of 185p/kg which included nearly half the hoggs forward weighing over 47kg. There was an SQQ 195p/kg which included a large quantity of hill bred hoggs. Once again, plenty of pens of Continental bred hoggs easily selling in excess of 200p/kg. Leading the way this week at 223p/kg was Texel Hoggs from J Fryars, Greenhalgh, Texel hoggs from AG Butler sold to 220p/kg and 217p/kg with Texels from G & D Ball & Son, Great Eccleston selling to 219p/kg and Cheviots topping at 218p/kg from T Smith, Pilling. The trade was topped by AG Butler who sold Charollais hoggs to £106 with Texels from the same home selling to £104, £100, £99 twice and £98. Also achieving £98 was Charollais from RS & IM Kellet, Cockerham. Beltexs topped at £96 twice from Bargh Contractors, Heaton-with-Oxcliffe with Texels twice selling to £96 from BD Wood, Out Rawcliffe with numerous more pens of Continental and Texel hoggs selling in the early nineties. All Continental and Texel hoggs forward today averaged £88.54. Suffolks topped at £92 from RS & IM Kellet, with Cheviots twice selling to £90 from J & H Davis, Cabus. Mule hoggs topped at £90 from RG & H Preece, Roeburndale West with other Mules selling to £87.50 from Cardwell Farms, Stalmine. All Mules forward £80.82. Horned hoggs sold to a top of £88.50 for Swaledales from T Longton & Son, Quernmore. Scottish Blackfaces topped at £83.50 from WM Pye, Ashton with Stodday. All horned hoggs averaged £80.67. Light weight hoggs were in good demand with 33kg Herdwicks selling to £67 from J Fryars.

Cast Sheep

Once again, an entry of 50 Cast Ewes at Lancaster sold to another strong trade. Topping the market today at £107 was Texel Cast Tup from PD Anderton, Scorton. Texel ewes topped at £98 from E Lund & Son, Ingleton with Continentals selling to £91 from S Wilson & Son, Scotforth. Mule ewes sold to a top of £85 from PD Anderton with other Mule ewes to £83 from S Wilson & Son. Horned sheep topped at £61 for Swaledales from A & L Huddleston, Wray with others selling to £60 from J & CW Metcalfe & Son, Quernmore. All Swaledale sheep forward this week averaged £58. There was an overall market average of £74.19 with no Cast Sheep forward this week selling below the £50 mark.

Sheep with Lambs at Foot

There were 73 families or 205 lives for the weekly sale of Sheep with Lambs at Foot which is the largest entry this season. There was a more selective trade this week that saw sheep sucking their lambs well in strongest demand and easiest to sell. Leading the way this week was young Continentals Ewes sucking twins selling to a top of £188 from G Hargreaves, Scotforth. This was closely followed by Texel ewes selling to £185 from Messrs Young, Grange-over-Sands. Aged Continental ewes with twin lambs topped at £182 from D & K Swarbrick, Out Rawcliffe. £180 was achieved a further three times for Continental ewes with twin lambs at foot. Broken mouthed Mule ewes sucking strong twins topped at £172 from D & K Swarbrick. Sheep sucking singles twice sold to £128 for Continentals from SI Porter, Allithwaite. There was an overall market average of £54.26 with a lot more consignments of younger lambs forward today.