The beef market in Scotland looks stable for clean beef, but the cow trade is continuing to soften.

Farmers are still being quoted £3.70 to £3.80/kg for an R grade steer carcase. However, high numbers of Aberdeen Angus cattle coming into abattoirs is putting pressure on the native breed premium.

The official Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) steer price was £3.88/kg for an R4L for the week ending 31 October, which is another rise of 1p/kg.

Meanwhile, England and Wales are 10p/kg below Scotland for the same animals, with an average of £3.78/kg.

Store cattle sales remained buoyant, but not a bonanza

Scottish heifers grading R4L were quoted at £3.89/kg, which is up 4p/kg. Same-grade bulls were £3.73/kg, which is up 4p/kg.

Cows grading O-4L are quoted at £2.59/kg, which is down 6p/kg. Abattoirs are quoting farmers £2.60/kg for fleshier cows this week as the market remains soft.

Store cattle sales remained buoyant, but not a bonanza. The all-store average price for Scotland for the week ending 31 October was £954/head for 12- to 18-month-old animals, which is a drop of £2/head on the week.

Last week, United Auctions in Stirling sold 1,248 store cattle

However, this is around £90 more than farmers got on average last year when stores were averaging £867/head. Last week, United Auctions in Stirling sold 1,248 store cattle. The average liveweight price at the sale was £2.15/kg for steers and £2.10/kg for heifers.

Thainstone on Friday 30 October sold 824 store cattle. The average liveweight price for steers was £2.25/kg and for the heifers was £2.26/kg.

Sheep

The deadweight market for sheep looks solid, as abattoirs are paying £4.40/kg for R grade lambs in Scotland. The official AHDB lamb price for last week dropped 6p/kg to £4.37/kg for an R grade. Across GB, 47,082 lambs were slaughtered, down 6,829 on the week.

There was a good trade at St Boswells on Monday when prime lambs averaged £2.08/kg

The average price for prime sheep in the live ring rose this week by 6p for all weights to an average of £2/kg. The price is up £14.50/head compared with Christmas last year. There was a good trade at St Boswells on Monday when prime lambs averaged £2.08/kg.

The price of ewes in the live ring average £59/head, which is up around 80p/head on the week. Traditionally, the price of ewes can rise in the runup to Christmas with ewes going up in values by £20/head last year.

Store lambs

United Auctions in Stirling sold 2,749 store lambs last Thursday where prices fell back on the week. Texel-bred lambs averaged £74.76, down 67p, and Beltex-bred lambs averaged £80.03, which was down £1.57. Cheviot store lambs were selling for £61.50, Mules for £65.23 and Blackfaces £57.82.

Aberdeen Northern Marts sold 3,169 mainland lambs and 1,438 island lambs last week. The average price was £63.50/head for mainland lambs and £51.89 for island lambs.