PRIME Lambs - 2091 : An entry much reduced by harvest work but those who ventured forth with meat were richly rewarded. Euro at 85p and a shortage of meat and weight nationwide lead to mediums 200.4p, heavies 202.8p, standards with a lot of leaner lambs 184.4p, SQQ 196.2p, all good export sheep 205p+. The lesson as ever is meat and

weight. 56kg - £102.50, 54kg - £101, 49.5kg - £100, 49kg - £99.50, 48kg - £98.80. Every sheep averaged £80.45. 2500+ needed every week.

9 Ewes/hoggs and 9 lambs: Just a few lots of smaller sorts with hoggs and lambs at £86 and £88. Plainer ewes with singles from £60 to £68.

Breeding rams - 13: A stronger Beltex cross Texel yearling topped the sale at £483 with another at £315. 2 Blue Texel yearlings sold to £378 and £294. 2 Charollais 2 year olds both sold at £220.50. Just a limited demand with more lookers than bidders.

Breeding ewes - 629: The first sale of early lambing ewes attracted plenty of interest with the older black faced ewes in greatest demand. Stronger 3,4 and 5 year olds regularly sold from £110 to £124. Smaller sorts from £90 to £106, many more could have been sold. Light faced ewes were in short supply and generally smaller, they sold from £80 to £108. Customers in attendance were looking for stronger sorts being prepared to give more for what they wanted. A bunch of strong North Country Mules of similar age sold at £98. Top price on the day was £126 on three occasions for pens of clean faced Suffolk cross 2 year olds, with others from £114 to £124. Younger ewes met a more limited demand with buyers looking for strength and ewes ready to be tupped. Two annual drafts of Suffolk cross Mule 2 year olds entered for next week in an expected entry of 800.

Store lambs - 547: A similar entry of lambs met another fast trade throughout with another good crowd of onlookers and some men going away empty handed. Strongest mixed lambs to £67.50, other stronger bunches of mixed lambs £62 to £66. Nice well bred farming continental lambs from £57 to £61. Medium keep lambs from £50 to £56.50. Long keep lambs from £44 to £50, very small and plain sorts from £38 to £43.50. Ram lambs to £69 for strong lambs, other stronger bunches of ram lambs to £65, £62.20 and smaller sorts £52 to £57. Overall average £58.07.

Rearing/weaned calves - 4: What a trade - just a shame there were not more calves to sell. 3 Hereford cross calves by a named sire sold to £370 for a strong bull at 34 days, with a smaller version of the same age at £330. The heifer of similar breeding, just 20 days old at £300. Another heifer, a British Blue cross also sold at £300. More calves needed each week.

Cull ewes - 2368: Still an unbelievable entry of ewes considering it is the end of the festival. Before we talk about averages it must be pointed out that at least 80% of the entry would be a mixture of Welsh, Speckle and Cheviot ewes of varying quality, which has obviously had a significant impact on the overall average recorded on paper. Pen after pen of hill bred ewes but nevertheless the trade on these wouldn't be a lot different to last week, perhaps a little easier but no great shakes. Those best continental types in very short supply but we did have a pen to £116/head and several others £100/head plus. Plenty of competition from start to finish.

Average £/head - £52.95,Continental £116, Suffolks £87.50, North Country Mules £77.50, Welsh Mules £74, Speckles £68, Welsh £66, Cull Rams £103, Cull Wethers £86.