Scottish abattoirs are paying £5.10/kg for new-season lamb, down £1/kg in the last seven days.

But this is still above the price of £4.70/kg this time last year.

The live trade was back 35p/kg to £2.59/kg for medium weight lambs. Heavy lambs averaged £2.51/kg, which is a drop of 42p/kg.

The number of prime lambs in marts fell by 300 head across Scotland to just over 5,300 lambs sold the week ending 26 June.

This week Ayr Mart was selling prime lambs at £2.47/kg, down 10p/kg, Lanark averaged £2.43/kg down 45p/kg and St Boswells £2.43/kg down 30p/kg.

United Auctions last Thursday sold 1,320 spring lambs for an average of £2.36/kg, down 49p/kg.

The Official Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) price for across Britain for the week ending 26 June was £5.87/kg for an R3L lamb carcase, which is down 46p/kg or nearly £10/head. There were just under 40,000 killed over the week.

The ewe price in Scotland is £94/head, which is down £1 on the week for 2,900 sold.

Cattle price not budging

The beef price seems stuck at £4.03-07/kg for an R grade steer for another week. The AHDB Scottish beef price for an R4L steer is at £4.13/kg, which is up 1p. Same-grade heifers were £4.15/kg, which is down 1p on the week. The young bull price didn’t move at £4.02/kg deadweight.

AHDB’s official price for Scotland is £3.11/kg for an 0-4, which is up 7p/kg on the week.

The liveweight price for cull cows for Scotland is £1.51/kg at the moment, which is up 6p/kg. Beef cows were at 8p/kg more than the average price and dairy cows were at 26p/kg below the average price.

Lanark Mart held its fortnightly sale where steers averaged £2.31/kg, heifers £2.32/kg and dairy steers £1.81/kg. The top prices were £1,425 for a 582kg Limousin steer and £1,380 for a 594kg Simmental heifer. Aberdeen Northern Marts sold 360 head of store cattle at its fortnightly summer sale. The steers averaged £2.48/kg and the heifers £2.37/kg. The top price on the day was £1,530 for a 708kg Charolais-cross steer.

Thainstone sold 140 head of breeding cattle last Friday, with heifers with a bull calf averaging £2,088, and with a heifer calf £1,870. Cows with a bull calf averaged £1,597 and with a heifer calf £1,472. In-calf heifers sold for £1,400 and in-calf cows for £1,200.

United Auctions sold 248 store cattle with steers averaging £2.41/kg, up 4p, and heifers averaging £2.32/kg, up 10p. They also sold 44 dairy steers for an average of £1.98/kg, up 1p.

Fodder sale

This week in Carlisle, wheat mini hestons sold to £145/t, down £15/t, and barley round bales were still at £47/bale. Anecdotally, demand from biomass power stations is fuelling the straw market.