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Scottish abattoirs are paying farmers between £4.18/kg and £4.22/kg for steer and heifer carcases at R4L conformation.
The official Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) Scottish beef price also shows that markets have steadied after last week’s cuts.
Last week, the average price paid on an R4L steer was £4.30/kg, down 2p/kg. Same-grade heifers were £4.29/kg, down 6p on the week. The young bull price was down 9p/kg to £4.17/kg.
Finished cows were reported by the AHDB at £3.03/kg for an 0-4L, which is down 4p/kg on the week. Across marts in Scotland, cull cows averaged £1.46/kg liveweight, a drop of 7p/kg.
Thainstone sold 1,552 store cattle last Friday, with steers averaging £2.50/kg, down 4p/kg on the week. Heifers averaged £2.45/kg, down 7p/kg.
Thainstone also held a sale of 250 cows and calves. Heifers with a bull calf averaged £2,806 and females with a heifer calf averaged £2,593.
The strong sale also saw 35 outfits selling for over £3,000, with a top of £3,800. There was also a sale of bulling heifers, which averaged £2.87/kg, up 27p/kg on the year.
United Auctions in Stirling sold over 1,500 stores. Steers averaged £2.59/kg, up 6p/kg and heifers averaged £2.43/kg, down 2p/kg.
The west coast mart at Oban held a store sale on Saturday, which saw 449 cattle sold, with steers averaging £905/head and £2.74/kg which is £177/head more than last year.
The heifers averaged £823/head and £2.60/kg, which was £122/head more than last year.
Sheep trade
Scottish abattoirs are paying between £6.40/kg and £7/kg for hoggets.
The live ring for hoggets rose 5p/kg to between £2.90/kg and £3/kg at Monday’s sales at Ayr, Lanark and St Boswell’s.
Tuesday’s sales took a dip to average between £2.50/kg and £2.70/kg.
Last Thursday, United Auctions at Stirling sold over 5,000 hoggets to an average of £2.98/kg, up 16p/kg, with 184 spring lambs averaging £3.33/kg, down 2p/kg.
Across Scotland, the average for the week ending 7 May was £2.96/kg for medium-weight hoggets, up 12p/kg. New-season lambs are making £3.40/kg liveweight, up 3p/kg for the 471 that were sold last week.
The AHDB price across Britain for last week was £6.58/kg for an R3L carcase, which is up 8p/kg. The new-season lamb price is £6.89/kg, up 4p/kg for an R3L for the nearly 7,000 killed.
The ewe price in Scotland is £97/head, which is down £3 on the week for just over 3,500 sold.
Thainstone sold over 1,100 ewes with lambs at foot this week, averaging £77/life, up £10, with a high of £120/life.
Lanark Mart sold 885 ewes with lambs at foot, averaging £71.28/life, with just under half of the sale consisting of Blackfaces and Shetlands.
Fodder sale
Warmer conditions are getting a lot of cattle into fields in Scotland.
Thainstone sold just 515 bales of fodder, less than one third of the previous week.
Five-foot round bales were selling for £18.50 and hay at £14, down £1.
Carrots were selling for £16/t, potatoes for £23/t and turnips for £20/t.
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