Some Scottish abattoirs are paying farmers £6.20/kg for R grading hoggets up to 21kg, which is a rise of 15p/kg for the second week running.

The Monday live sales cooled by 8p to 10p/kg, with £2.65/kg at Ayr, £2.72/kg at Lanark and £2.78/kg at St Boswells. Tuesday’s sales saw similar prices of £2.65 to £2.68/kg for hoggets.

The official Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) price for across Britain was £6.11/kg for an R3L carcase, which is up 17p/kg. The number of hoggets slaughtered in Britain was similar to last week, with around 34,000 killed in abattoirs.

The ewe price in Scotland last week was £75/head, unchanged on the week, with 5,700 sheep sold.

United Auctions sold 750 store lambs last week, with Texels, Suffolks and Mules averaging £99/head, Cheviots £89/head and Blackfaces £79/head.

Aberdeen and Northern Marts sold store lambs last week to an average of £89/head, which is down £5. Ewes and lambs were sold for £80/life, also down £5, and pregnant ewes sold to an average of £143/head, up £12/head.

Figures from the AHDB show UK imports of sheepmeat for 2020 totalled 58,500t, down on the year by 7%.

Beef price firm

The AHDB price for R grading steers for the week ending 20 February was £3.88/ kg, which is unchanged on the week. Same-grade heifers were £3.88/kg, which is down 1p on the week.

The young bull price dropped 13p/kg to £3.61/kg. The premium over English and Welsh cattle is between 7p to 10p/kg for cattle in Scotland.

Finished cows were reported by the AHDB at £2.67/kg for an 0-4, which hasn’t changed on the week. United Auctions in Stirling sold cull cows at £1.39/kg for beef types, up 1p/kg.

Thainstone sold over 1,600 store cattle in another strong ring which included a special Aberdeen Angus sale. Steers averaging £2.53/kg down 1p/kg and Aberdeen Angus steers averaged £2.43/kg. Heifers £2.43/kg up 4p/kg and Aberdeen Angus heifers averaged £2.29/kg.

Ayr Mart sold store steers which averaged £2.29/kg or £1,068.43/head, heifers which averaged £2.25/kg or £991.76/head and Friesian steers which averaged £1.80/kg or £973.33/head. Dingwall Mart sold 823 store cattle last week where steers averaged £2.51/kg and heifers averaged £2.40/kg.

Across all of Scotland, steers and heifer weighing 465kg to 555kg averaged £2.29/kg. Heavier steer stores over 555kg were selling at an average of £2.03/kg and heifers over 480kg were averaging £2.16/kg.

Fodder sale

Carlisle’s fodder sale saw barley straw mini Heston bales jump £22/t to £140/t and round bales fell by £1/bale to £33/bale. Wheat straw sold to £145/t. Mini Hestons of hay sold to £145/t and round bales of silage sold to £18/bale.