The prices of Scotch lamb and beef continued their upward trajectory, despite two major abattoirs in Aberdeen and Stirling being affected by COVID-19 outbreaks this week.

The prime market continued in strength, as the official Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) price sat at £4.64/kg for an R3L across the UK. This is a rise of 15p/kg on the week.

Scottish farmers can expect to get around £4.50/kg for an R grade lamb in abattoirs, but only to 21kg.

St Boswell’s Monday prime lamb sale saw prices lift by 2p/kg to £2.12/kg for medium weight lambs.

Over 1,200 lambs were sold in Ayr Mart on that day too, where prices were the exact same and up 5p/kg on the week. Finally, Lanark held a strong sale of finished lambs which averaged £2.14/kg.

These prices are up significantly from last week’s Thainstone sale of prime lambs, when 1,672 were sold to an average of £1.92/kg.

United Auctions Stirling sold 4,159 new-season lambs on Thursday last week, which averaged £2.06/kg.

Store lambs

Store lamb prices continue to be strong as all breeds of lambs – except Blackfaces – at United Auctions averaged over £70/head. Suffolk store lambs were the highest average price at £76/head. Over 1,600 store lambs were sold at Thainstone last week, with an average of £66.37/head.

Prime cattle

The clean cattle price continued its rally, as abattoirs are offering Scottish farmers £3.82/kg to £3.88/kg for R grading continental steers. The official AHDB price for R grading steers for the week ending 14 November was £3.93/kg, up 3p/kg on the week. Same-grade heifers rose 3p/kg to £3.92/kg and young bulls were up 1p/kg to £3.75/kg respectively.

Demand for clean beef looks to be rising in the run to Christmas as many families will be eating at home over the festive period. Butchers were looking for cattle at St Bosewell’s prime cattle sale on Monday, as 45 heifers averaged £2.31/kg liveweight.

The demand for fat cows has slipped in Scotland, with many heading to England for slaughter. The Scottish price from AHDB for an 0-4L was £2.44/kg down a massive 13p/kg on the week.

Store cattle

Over 1,200 store cattle were sold at United Auctions Stirling last week, where they averaged £2.20/kg for steers, £2.16/kg for heifers, £1.70/kg for dairy steers and £2.42/kg for young bulls. Thainstone sold 720 store cattle last Friday, where the average price paid was £2.22/kg for steers and £2.16/kg for heifers.

Head livestock auctioneer John Angus said: “A good quality show of strong cattle sold dearer on the week while smaller cattle were more difficult to cash.”