Scottish lamb is commanding £5.40/kg in abattoirs this week for R grading carcases up to 22kg.

Prime sales in marts were strong again, with prices from £2.38/kg to £2.52/kg liveweight.

The official Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) price for R3L lambs across the UK is £5.34/kg, unchanged for the week ending 30 October.

The averages per head for United Auctions sale of store lambs were Beltex £97, up £5; Suffolk £86, down £6; Texel £89, up £4; Mule £85, up £1; Cheviot £72, down £16; and Blackface £66, up £4.

Thainstone sold 1,500 store lambs, which averaged £80/head. Dingwall sold 2,816 store lambs for an average of £68/head and 1,303 ewes for an average of £54.

Buoyant trade

The auctioneer said: “Lamb trade was really buoyant again this week for a severely mixed show of quality.

“Long-keep lambs look the dearest commodity in the market, with plenty of buyers still keen to obtain numbers.”

The cull ewe price in Scotland averaged £71.50/head for the week ending 30 October, up £6/head.

Beef strength

The prime cattle trade is continuing to hold firm in Scotland as prime beef is in demand for the Christmas period.

R grading continental steers are priced at £4.10 to £4.20/kg again this week. The AHDB beef price for an R4L steer is at £4.23/kg, up 2p.

Same-grade heifers were £4.22/kg, up 1p. The young bull price is £4.10/kg deadweight, up 10p/kg. Cows grading O-4L were at £2.83/kg, down 11p.

United Auctions sold 1,179 store cattle, with steers averaging £2.20/kg, down 5p, and heifers £2.17/kg, up 2p. Thainstone sold 935 store cattle, with steers averaging £2.30/kg, down 6p, and heifers £2.26/kg, down 4p.

Caledonian Mart in Stirling held a store sale, which averaged £2.18/kg for steers and £2.07 for heifers.

Cull cows in Scotland averaged £1.25/kg liveweight for beef-bred cows, which is down 8p/kg, and 90p/kg for dairy-bred cows, which is also down 8p.

The demand for cow beef before Christmas is weaker and some abattoirs are still struggling to get staff for the line and for butchering.

St Bosewells held two dispersals for Ellemford farm and Blackhouse farm. The Ellemford dispersal sold 130 mainly Aberdeen Angus-cross in-calf cows and heifers for an average of £1,471.

The Blackhouse dispersal sold 42 Simmental-cross and Aberdeen Angus-cross cows, with a top of £1,680 for an incalf cow.

Dumfries held its monthly dairy auction, with calved heifers averaging £1,538, in-calf heifers £1,232 and bulling heifers £1,100. Its store cattle sale averaged £2.13/kg for steers and £2.31/kg for heifers.