Kington Market, March 31

Hoggets: We had a good entry of 1680 hoggets which sold to an excellent trade on the week.

The hogget trade had firmed since last week with all buyers requiring hoggets for their orders.

All weights of hoggets were in excellent demand from 30kg to 60kg.

Both export and home trade buyers competed very well for the hoggets on offer.

Meated hoggets still command the premium prices so it id well worth while selecting the hogget that meets the buyers requirements. Farm assurance is also becoming more of an issue and hoggets which are farm assured are receiving premiums over the non assured hoggets.

The hoggets averaged an excellent £2.02ppk and sold up to £2.15ppk for some 43.00kg hoggets from WH Jones.

All the hoggets averaged an excellent £89 per head up to £99.20 per head for some 58kg hoggets from WJ Francis.

Hoggets between 32.5kg to 39kg averaged 1.94ppk up to 1.98ppk.

Hoggets between 39.1kg to 45.5kg averaged 2.03ppk up to 2.15ppk.

Hoggets between 45.6kg to 52kg averaged 1.92ppk up to 2.05ppk.

Hoggets over 52kg averaged 1.70ppk up to 1.75ppk.

We had a large entry of mule hoggets which sold to excellent prices compared to their continental counter parts. The mule hoggets sold up to £96 per head.

We had an entry of heavy hoggets which sold very well. Lighter weight hoggets under 43kg sold to an exceptional trade and as dear as we have seen them this year. The hoggets between 38kg and 43kg would all be selling at £2 per kg and over.

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 cull and store sheep, which sold to an exceptional trade again with all buyers present and eager to buy cull sheep. The cull sheep trade at present just keeps getting dearer.

The cull sheep were in excellent demand by the buyers for all sorts fat and thin and we received an excellent trade again which would be dearer than most other centres.

If you have any cull sheep it would be worth taking advantage of this trade.

The cull sheep sold to a top of £139.50 per head for some Texel cross ewes from AR and SD Witcomb and averaged an excellent £86 per head, which is the dearest average we have seen this year.

Continental ewes averaged £115 per head and sold up to £139.50 per head.

Mule types ewes averaged £82 per head and sold up to £99 per head.

Welsh, Speckle and smaller hill type ewes averaged £59 per head and sold up to £68 per head.

Tups averaged an excellent £120 per head and sold up to £139 per head.

Small Store hoggets averaged £58 per head up to £66 per head.

Light lambs under 32kg averages 1.90ppk.

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

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.