Lamb is still in demand in Scotland, with abattoirs paying £5.10/kg up to 22kg for R grading carcases.

Prime sales in marts are also up, with most sales above £2.20/kg and some above £2.40/kg on average.

The official Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) price for R3L lambs across the UK is £5.22/kg, up 20p for the week ending 2 October.

At UA Stirling’s store lamb sale, Texels averaged £92/head, up £5; Mules £85, up £1; Suffolks £89, up £2; Beltex £97, up £3; Cheviots £84, up £7; and Blackfaces £62, up £1.

They also sold 193 Blackface rams for an average of £646/head, up from £588/head last year

Dingwall Mart sold nearly 4,000 sheep at its sale of Blackface and cross ewes, gimmers and ewe lambs. The ewe lambs averaged £74/head, up £18 on the year; the ewes averaged £60, up £1; and the gimmers were £138, up £15. They also sold 193 Blackface rams for an average of £646/head, up from £588/head last year.

Thainstone sold over 2,000 store lambs with an average of £84/head. The cull ewe price in Scotland averaged £70/head for the week ending 9 October.

Beef in demand

Abattoirs in Scotland are quoting between £4.10 and £4.20/kg for R grading steers in Scotland this week. The AHDB beef price for an R4L steer is at £4.19/kg, down 1p. Same-grade heifers were £4.19/kg, down 2p. The young bull price is £4.08/kg deadweight, down 3p/kg. Cows grading O-4L were unchanged at £2.96/kg.

R and U grading cattle are making very similar money in Scotland, as they do in England at the moment, where farmers would historically expect 10p to 15p of a premium. However, there is a difference for O and P grading cattle in Scotland, which is around 5p/kg more north of the border.

Autumn-born calves reached £2.57/kg for steers and £2.47/kg for heifers

Spring-born calves were averaging £2.86/kg for steers and £2.64/kg for heifers at United Auctions in Stirling this week.

Autumn-born calves reached £2.57/kg for steers and £2.47/kg for heifers. Forward stores were averaging £2.31/kg for steers and £2.20/kg for heifers.

Stornoway Mart held a sale of 132 weaned and store cattle. Weaned steers averaged £2.37/kg and heifers £2.21/kg. A 193kg Beef Shorthorn-cross made £3/kg and a 220kg Limousin-cross made £2.68/kg.

Orkney Mart sold 343 store cattle to an average of £2.21/kg for steers, while heifers averaged £2.19/kg.

Dalmally Mart sold 1,180 weaned calves for an average of £750/head for steers, up £56 on the year, and £650/head for heifers, up £4 on the year.

Autumn-born steers averaged £1,065 or £2.39/kg, with heifers averaging £973 or £2.30/kg. Spring-born calves averaged £814/head and £2.84/kg for steers and £765 and £2.62/kg for heifers.

Fodder sale

Carlisle held a fodder sale this week, where 4ft round bales of barley straw were up in price making £16 and £22 per bale.