Scottish abattoirs increased their price for lamb by 10p to 15p/kg up to £5.50/kg for R grade lambs this week.

For the week ending 24 July, the live trade averaged £2.58/kg for medium-weight lambs which, was up 4p/kg, and heavy lambs averaged £2.52/kg, which is a rise of 1p/kg.

Across Scotland, the number of lambs sold through marts was unchanged at around 11,000.

The official Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) price for across GB for the week ending 24 July was £5.58/kg for an R3L carcase.

Slaughterings fell back to typical levels after the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival to just over 41,000 head. The ewe price in Scotland is £91/head, which is up £4 on the week for just under 4,000 sold.

Strong store lamb start

United Auctions held its first store lamb sale with 6,006 animals on Monday 26 July.

Texel-cross lambs made £88/head, up £15.37 on the year; Beltex-cross made £87/head, up £16; Suffolk-cross made £87.25, up £11.43; Cheviots made £76, up £16; Mules made £81.10, up £7.24; and Cheviot-cross Mules made £81.64, up £10.47.

The top price was £122/head for Texel lambs. Lighter lambs look to be an even stronger trade, with many under 35kg up £20/head on the year.

Lanark Mart held its Suffolk pedigree sale, where 143 ram lambs were sold to an average of £4,761, with a 92% clearance rate. The top-priced ram lamb was sold for 200,000gns, a new breed record.

Beef price rising

The beef price in Scottish abattoirs is opening up, with some abattoirs still around £4.05/kg, while others reported as high as £4.20/kg for R grade steers.

The AHDB Scottish beef price for an R4L steer is £4.20/kg, which is up 1p. Same-grade heifers were £4.18/kg, which is up 2p on the week.

The young bull price is £4.04/kg deadweight, which is down 3p/kg.

The AHDB’s official price for cows in Scotland is £3.18/kg for an 0-4, which is up 5p/kg on the week. Fleshier R grade cows under 10 years old are getting £3.60/kg in some abattoirs.

Over 740 cull cows were sold in marts, with beef cows averaging £1.59/kg and dairy cows £1.21/kg.

Store heifers were £2.48/kg for medium weights (400kg to 480kg) and £2.26/kg for over 480kg. Store young bulls averaged £1.83/kg.

Dingwall Mart held a big show and sale of over 1,300 store cattle on 21 July. The first-prizewinning 15-month-old Limousin heifer weighing 435kg was sold for £2,300. The average for steers was £2.60/kg, up 20p on the year. Heifers were £2.49/kg, which was up 19p on the year.

Fodder sale

This week Carlilse Mart was selling mini Heston bales of barley straw for £95/t.