One of Europe’s largest one-day sheep sales took place earlier this week at Lairg with 12,694 lambs sold on the day. The sale acts as a good indication of the store lamb trade as the season begins to heat up. There had been fears from farmers that prices would slip back as the challenging conditions meant that buyers would not have grass available, leading to reduced demand.

However, much to the relief of farmers, prices were strong on the day with an average price paid for the 8,944 wedder lambs of £51.11/head, this represents a slight increase of 5p/head on last year’s price of £51.06 head. A buyout trade was reported for ewe lambs with an average price paid of £76.54/head, nearly identical to last year’s price.

Overall, numbers at the sale dropped by 1,514 head when compared to the 2017 sale. It was noted that lambs presented at the sale were not as well grown as last year with more second and third draws coming to the market.

A strong store lambs trade was also seen at Stirling on Monday where 3,276 lambs were sold. Prices rose by £3-£5/head, depending on the breed, on the previous week’s sale with an average price paid on the day of £57.50/head.

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