The hogget trade shows little sign of letting up, as abattoirs offer £5.90/kg for R grade carcases up to 21kg, which is up 20p/kg on the week.

The live ring appears to be running around £2.50/kg to £2.65/kg for medium-weight hoggets. This week, Ayr averaged £2.51/kg, Lanark £2.56/kg and St Boswells £2.68/kg from the Monday marts.

Tuesday saw Castle Douglas sell over 1,600 hoggets to an average of £2.50/kg. This puts a 44kg hogget in marts at £110 to £115/head and abattoirs paying £120/head for similar hoggets.

The official price for old-season lambs from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) is £5.70/kg for the week ending 16 January across Britain.

This is another massive jump of 43p/kg over seven days.

Britain killed nearly 40,000 old-season lambs, which is an increase of 3,600 on the week.

United Auctions sold 1,489 store lambs last Wednesday.

The average for a Beltex was £98/head, Texels £92/head, Cheviots £79/head, Mules £89/head, Suffolks £93/head and Blackfaces £81/head.

Ewe numbers falling

2020 June agricultural survey shows the UK total sheep flock has fallen 3% on the year to 32.7 million. This makes the UK breeding flock in June at 15.4 million head, which is over 4% down on the year and the lowest number since 2012.

Beef price £3.90/kg

The beef price seems to be sticking to around £3.90/kg for R grade carcases in Scotland.

The official AHDB price for R grading steers for the week ending 16 January was £3.90/kg, which is up 6p/kg on the week.

Same-grade heifers rose 7p to also be at £3.90/kg. The young bull price didn’t change at £3.68/kg. The premium over English cattle is currently running at 5p to 10p/kg depending on the grade and type of cattle.

Finished cows were reported by the AHDB at £2.63/kg for an 0-4, which is up 7/kg. According to QMS, the average cull cow price is still running 34p/kg below the highs of September. Thainstone sold cows last week with the 206 beef-bred cows averaging £1.41/kg and a high of £1.96/kg for a 698kg Charolais-cross. The 34 dairy cows averaged £1.25/kg.

United Auctions in Stirling sold 1,222 store cattle, with steers averaging £2.25/kg, heifers £2.18/kg and dairy steers making £1.90/kg. Aberdeen and Northern Marts sold 1,148 store cattle last week. The steers averaged £2.45/kg and heifers averaged £2.40/kg. Aberdeen Angus steers averaged £2.41/kg and heifers £2.26/kg.

Fodder sale

Aberdeen and Northern Marts held another fodder sale, with inside barley 4x4 bales £12 each. Inside hay sold for £10 per bale and haylage made £12.50 per bale. Baled silage was selling for £9 per bale and turnips were making £29 per tonne.