Kington Market, May 19

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

Spring lambs are out in abundance this week and this has eased the trade compared to last week. coupled with strong hogget numbers still being marketed. This has led to an increase supply of sheep meat which has in turn reduced the demand by the buyers.

Hoggets: We had a good entry of 640 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. There are several end of season poorer hogget's being marketed at present which affects the over all trade.

Well bred and good meated hogget's sold up to £1.90ppk

The heavier hogget's were the best sold and the 50kg and over would sell from £90 to £96 per head.

The hogget's averaged a £1.70ppk and sold up to £1.90ppk for some 43kg hogget's from GL Morgan.

All the hogget's averaged £80 per head up to £96 per head for some 52kg hogget's from Alan Layton.

Hogget's between 32.5kg to 39kg averaged 1.58ppk up to 1.60ppk.

Hogget's between 39.1kg to 45.5kg averaged 1.64ppk up to 1.90ppk.

Hogget's between 45.6kg to 52kg averaged 1.78ppk up to 1.86ppk.

Hogget's 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 hogget's.

Spring Lambs: We had a good entry of 501 spring lambs which sold to a better trade on the week.

The lambs were in good demand by the buyers in all weight ranges. The lamb trade this week has eased due to larger numbers being market nationally.

The overall SQQ averaged was £1.99ppk

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

All the lambs averaged £82 per head up to £91.50 per head for some 50kg lambs from V Stephens.

Lambs between 32.5kg to 39kg averaged 2.01ppk up to 2.05ppk.

Lambs between 39.1kg to 45.5kg averaged 1.98ppk up to 2.05ppk.

Lambs between 45.6kg to 52kg averaged 1.86ppk.

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 an entry of 486 cull and store sheep, which sold to a good trade on the week.

Again larger numbers of cull sheep have been marketed over the past week which has reduced the demand by the buyers and eased prices.The ewes were in good demand by the buyers on all sorts.

The small ewes were a particularly good trade compared to other sorts.

The cull sheep sold to a top of £118 per head for some suffolk cross weathers from Rhod Farm and averaged a good £70 per head.

Continental ewes averaged £95 per head and sold up to £100 per head.

Mule types ewes averaged £70 per head and sold up to £90 per head.

Welsh, Speckle and smaller hill type ewes averaged £54 per head and sold up to £65 per head.

Tups averaged £80 per head and sold up to £96 per head.

Small Store hoggets averaged £45 per head up to £50 per head.

Light lambs under 32kg averages 1.65ppk.

Hoggets with teeth up averaged £70 per head up to £85 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.