The lamb trade continues in strength with abattoirs paying £4.45/kg for R grades and the live ring paying £2.04/kg, which is up on £1.72/kg this time last year equal to over £14 per lamb.

The AHDB reported the GB lamb kill was up 17% on the year for July, which has pulled significant lambs forward, leaving far fewer still on the ground than usual.

Record breeding sheep sale prices are convincing many farmers to keep big ewe lambs for replacements, further slowing numbers sent to slaughter.

Scottish abattoirs are paying farmers £3.80 to £3.90 for R grade continental carcase up to 400kg. The official AHDB price for R4L steers is £3.93/kg, up 2p/kg. Remember, the AHDB average includes all breed, weight and organic premiums paid.

R4L heifers rose for the second week, this time by 3p/kg to £3.91/kg, and same-grade young bulls bucked the trend and fell 2p/kg to an official AHDB price of £3.74/kg.

Record breeding sheep sale prices are convincing many farmers to keep big ewe lambs for replacements

Cows grading O-4L were reported at £2.87/kg, which is up 5p/kg. R grading fleshier cows are making £3.15/kg showing a demand for manufacturing beef. There were over 2,000 more store cattle sold through the live ring, bringing total numbers sold to over 5,000. The national average rose £60/head to £960/head.

Marts sold 24,877 prime lambs in the ring, a rise of 6,391, with an average price of £2.04/kg recorded for medium-weight lambs, a fall of 5p/kg on the week. Heavy lambs dropped 4p/kg to average £2.03/kg, showing continued demand for lambs.

Meanwhile, the UK average price published by the ADHB sits at £4.68/kg deadweight for R grade lambs, which is a fall of 1p/kg.

The top average price for continental and Suffolk-bred lambs was at Castle Douglas, which averaged over £75/head

The live ring sold over 3,000 more cull ewes last week, with 10,135 through the ring. The price on the week fell £2.41/head to £63.96/head.

The store lamb season continues to grow, with 26,621 lambs sold in Scotland. There were over 8,000 lambs sold at United Auctions Stirling and over 4,000 lambs sold at Dingwall and Caithness. Stirling averaged £65.73/head, Caithness £68.71/head and Dingwall £62.63/head. The top average price for continental and Suffolk-bred lambs was at Castle Douglas, which averaged over £75/head. Caithness, at £69/head, was the lowest price for continental- or Suffolk-bred lambs, with a national average of £71.49/head. Cheviot lambs sold in Ayr Mart had the top average at £73/head, with the lowest average price in Lanark at £46.34/head. The national average for Cheviot lambs was of £58.37/head. Blackface store lambs average £50.88/head across Scotland, with average prices ranging from £38/head to £58/head.