McCARTNEY'S of Kington report a good entry of 1976 sheep on January 7 for their first fat sheep sale of 2016. We had another excellent trade in all weight ranges with a full compliment of buyers.

Lambs: We had a good entry of 1575 hoggets which sold to an excellent trade with all weights in excellent demand by the buyers.

Less hoggets have been marketed due to the wet weather which has helped to firm the trade over the past couple of weeks. We saw good demand and competitive bidding from the export and home trade buyers, which is good to see in all weight ranges.

The hoggets averaged an excellent £1.78ppk and sold up to £1.88ppk.

All the hoggets averaged a good £79.50 per head up to £90 per head for some 60kg hoggets from CM and WC Phillips.

Hoggets between 32.5kg and 39kg averaged 1.75ppk up to 1.83ppk.

Hoggets between 39.5kg and 45.5kg averaged 1.79ppk up to 1.88ppk.

Hoggets between 46kg and 52kg averaged 1.75ppk up to 1.83ppk.

Hoggets over 52kg averaged 1.60ppk up to 1.70ppk.

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

Cull ewes, tups, wethers, store lambs: There was a good entry of 401 cull and store sheep, which sold to an improved trade on the week.

The buyers are requiring meated ewes but not fat for their orders.

Best Texel ewes were a good trade selling to £120.50 per head from MH Gwilliam.

Tups are an excellent trade and have strong demand and sold up to £105 per head from R and SM Watson.

The ewes sold to a top of £120.50 and averaged a good £68 per head which included smaller and thin hill ewes.

The cull tups sold up to £105 per head and averaged £87 per head.

Small store hoggets also sold to a strong trade and up to £58.

We have buyers requiring light hoggets 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 hoggets 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.