McCARTNEY'S of Kington report a good entry of 1670 sheep for their Christmas Show and Sale.

Lambs: We had a good entry of 1460 lambs which sold to a good trade on the week and above the national average. The lamb trade has eased since last week due to larger numbers being marketed nationally.

The heavy weight lambs sold well and were in good demand. Other weights were in reasonable demand buy the buyers. Again we had an entry of heavy lambs and very few pens under 45kgs.

The light weight lambs under 35kgs were a reasonable trade and sold up to £1.58ppk and averaged £1.56ppk.

The medium weight lambs under 43kg would sell very well and mainly between £1.60 and £1.86ppk and to average £1.61ppk.

The heavier lambs over 50kgs also sold well and mainly between £1.50ppk and £1.60ppk and to an average of £1.50 ppk.

The lambs averaged a good £1.60ppk and sold up to £1.86ppk.

All the lambs averaged a good £72 per head up to £81.50 per head for some 55kg lambs from LJ Davies.

Lambs between 32.5kg and 39kg averaged 1.55ppk up to 1.58ppk.

Lambs between 39.5kg and 45.5kg averaged 1.61ppk up to 1.86ppk.

Lambs between 46kg and 52kg averaged 1.55ppk up to 1.62ppk.

Lambs over 52kg averaged 1.48ppk up to 1.50ppk.

Results from our Christmas show and sale are as follows.

The Champion pen of lambs was awarded to MG and GJ Morgan, Bage Farm for some 44kg lambs which made £72 per head and were purchased by Alan Witcom.

The Reserve Champion pen of lambs was awarded to TR and GM Layton, Pontypinna Farm for some 45kg lambs which made £80 and were purchased by Paul Badger.

The lambs were kindly judged by Percy Jenkins of Euro Quality Lambs of Craven Arms.

The Champion Pen of ewes was awarded to Brobury Farms for some Texel ewes Which made £115 per head and were purchased by Pak Mecca Meats.

The cull ewes were kindly judged by Dennis Bevan of Pak Mecca Meats of Birmingham.

We are fortunate to have excellent buyer support from six buyers giving excellent competition for the lambs.

Cull ewes, tups, wethers, store lambs: There was a smaller entry of 210 cull and store sheep, which sold to a good trade on the week.

The bigger fatter ewes are still harder to sell than the leaner types.

At present leaner sheep is what the market is requiring.

The smaller hill type ewes would again sell the best as long as they were well meated but not fat.

Best Texel ewes were also a good trade selling to £115 per head from Brobury Farms.

Tups still remain an excellent trade and have strong demand and sold up to £121 per head from KO Rogers.

We have six excellent buyers in attendance and good competition between them and require more sheep to suffice their demand on a Thursday.

The ewes sold to a top of £115 and averaged a £65 per head which included smaller hill ewes.

The cull tups sold up to £121 per head and averaged £77 per head.

Light weight lambs under 35kgs were a good trade with good competition and they averaged £1.55ppk up to £1.58ppk.

We have buyers requiring light lambs each week to suffice their orders. The cull ewes included a large proportion of thinner mule ewes and smaller hill ewes.

We have buyers for in excess of 3000 lambs and 750 cull sheep per week to meet our buyers' requirements.

McCartneys at Kington, offer an on-farm livestock grading and marketing advice service on a no charge basis.

Kington Market is every Thursday, commencing at 11am with lambs followed by cull sheep.

For further information please contact Gareth Wall on 01544 230316 or 0797414336.