McCARTNEY'S of Kington report a good entry of 1831 sheep for their annual show and sale of spring lambs.

We had a good entry of sheep which sold to a good level trade on the week through out all sections.

Hoggets: We had an end of season entry of 220 hogget's which sold to a good trade on the week.

The hogget's on offer were again heavier with very few pens under 45kgs.

Meat and quality continues to be key to a good trade. Heavier weight hoggets over 48 kg sold to an excellent trade for the end of the season and sold up to £104 per head for some 60 kg hoggets from Colin and Wendy Philips.

Well bred and good meated hogget's sold up to £1.75ppk.

The heavier hogget's were the best sold and the 50kg and over would sell from £95 to £104 per head.

The hogget's averaged a £1.65ppk all the way through the weight ranges and sold up to £1.75ppk.

All the hogget's averaged £80 per head up to £104 per head.

Hogget's between 32.5kg to 39kg averaged 1.54ppk up to 1.65ppk.

Hogget's between 39.1kg to 45.5kg averaged 1.50ppk up to 1.52ppk.

Hogget's between 45.6kg to 52kg averaged 1.68ppk up to 1.72ppk.

Hogget's over 52kg averaged 1.58ppk up to 1.75ppk.

We are fortunate to have excellent buyer support from 6 buyers giving excellent competition for the hogget's.

Spring Lambs: We had a good entry of 1303 spring lambs which sold to a good level trade on the week.

The lambs were in good demand by the buyers in all weight ranges.

The overall SQQ averaged was £2.03ppk.

The buyers are looking for lambs between 35kg to 42kg to obtain premium market prices.

The light weight lambs under 32 kg were in excellent demand by the buyers and these lambs averaged £2.13ppk.

The heavier weight lambs over 45kg were also in good demand and sold to £100 per head for some 52kg lambs from Robert Duggan.

All the lambs averaged £84 per head up to £100 per head.

Lambs under 32kg averaged 2.13ppk up to 2.15ppk.

Lambs between 32.5kg to 39kg averaged 2.06ppk up to 2.12ppk.

Lambs between 39.1kg to 45.5kg averaged 2.02ppk up to 2.12ppk.

Lambs between 45.6kg to 52kg averaged 1.98ppk up to 2.04ppk.

Lambs over 52kg averaged £1.88ppk.

The show of the lambs was judged by Percy Jenkins of Euro Quality Lamb at Craven Arms.

The Champion Pen of lambs was awarded to Burgoyne Farms at Lyonshall for some 43kg Texel cross lambs.

The Reserve Champion Pen of lambs was awarded to John and Glyn Sankey of Downfield Farm for some 39kg Texel cross lambs.

We are fortunate to have excellent buyer support from 6 buyers giving excellent competition for the hogget's and lambs.

Cull ewes, tups, wethers, store lambs: There was a good entry of 308 cull and store sheep, which sold to a good trade on the week.

The ewes were in good demand by the buyers on all sorts.

The small ewes were a particularly good trade again compared to the bigger fatter ewes.

The cull sheep sold to a top of £117.50 per head for some Charolais Tups from Alan Witcomb and averaged a good £70 per head.

Continental ewes averaged £90 per head and sold up to £110 per head.

Mule types ewes averaged £70 per head and sold up to £88 per head.

Welsh, Speckle and smaller hill type ewes averaged £55 per head and sold up to £65 per head.

Tups averaged £100 per head and sold up to £117.50 per head.

Small Store hoggets averaged £56 per head up to £58.50 per head.

Hoggets with teeth up averaged £73 per head up to £84 per head.

We have buyers requiring store hoggets and light hoggets each week to suffice their orders.

We have buyers for in excess of 3000 hogget's and 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 free of charge basis.

Kington Market is every Thursday, commencing at 11am with Hoggets followed by Cull sheep.

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