Ross-on-Wye Market, July 25 Clean -105: The dearest beef trade ever in the market, very short entry due to weather conditions and also the national shortage of cattle met a super trade, again several runs of cattle over 200p with several cattle from 210 to 215p. Other markets have reported that the edge may just be going off this trade but this would not reflect that. However some firms are talking of reducing kills so if you have cattle fit certainly sell them in the coming weeks to take advantage of this trade.

Best steers peaked at 213p with heifers to 215p, a lot of cattle coming £1,350 to £1,450. Steers averaged 186p, heifers averaged 183.6p.

OTMS – 63: Week in week out the cow trade is very dear and this sale was no exception with all firms represented.

The short entry averaged 125.6p or £875.62 per head, the better beef cows from 140 to 150.5p. Black and whites still very well sold with several coming over £1,000.

Overage clean peaked at 187p and were just as dear as the UTM.

Lambs - 1,418: Another short entry, caused by the drop in trade in the middle and end of last week and the fact that several farmers were catching up with harvest in these rare hot conditions. However those who did show sheep were rewarded with a much sharper trade, certainly a lot more spark about the job, the better export lambs were all from 190 to 203p with several runs of sheep over £80 to a top of £85.50. Overall average 185.4p.

Ewes – 477: A good entry of ewes were in good demand by the seven ewe buyers, again a shortage of strong ewes with another large show of small and plain ewes, the better ewes were all from £110 to £126.

The small welsh ewes were a strong trade with several pens from £55 to £65.

Overall average £82.30.

Hereford Market, July 27 Prime lambs - 1,955: An entry badly affected by ‘haybobs’ and the harvest in general, but a very satisfactory trade with the heaviest to £99 for 57kg, which would be unheard of for lambs in July. Trade was 191p SQQ, 29p above the trade last year with the lighter the sheep the better the pence/kg with lights averaging 198.1p, standards 196.1p, medium 189.5p, heavy 182.9p.

Auctioneers need 3,000-plus sheep every week to maintain the eight buyers.

Top price/head £99 for lambs grading 57kg, Overall average 190.3p/kg Store lambs - 400: Again a larger entry with more selection of mixed lambs, stronger sorts from £61.20 to £68.80, with longer keeping lambs from £44.50 to £58.80.

Ram lambs from £39.20 to £61.20. The pen of smarter Suffolk cross mule ewe lambs sold to good interest at £75. Good interest on all lambs - more needed at each sale.

Ewes with lambs: The Welsh yearling ewe with her two lambs sold at £142.

Breeding ewes - 825: Another good selection of breeding ewes from yearlings to four year olds. Prices topped at £166 for Suffolk cross twos, harder bred two year olds from £131 to £146. Black faced yearlings to £159 with others from £140 to £155. Texel cross mule yearlings to £154 and others from £139 to £153. Older ewes sold to £146 for smart four and five year old Suffolk crosses with a draft of three, four and fiveyear- old mules from £109 to £126.

Charollais crosses of the same age at £130.

Light faced ewes from £79 to £110. The large draft of Lleyn ewes - four and five years old, recently weaned - ranged from £73 to £97. Mixed age Zwartbles ewes sold at £129 with two year old Kerry ewes at £78.

Cull ewes - 1,428: A superb entry of ewes sold to a fantastic trade. A full crowd of buyers ensured a very competitive trade which was up on last week. The ewes topped at £147/head for a pen of five ewes from L E Lloyd and Sons, Sarnsfield.

Rams were also a good trade topping at £146/head. Another good entry is required to maintain our current buying support.

Overall average - £84.23, Suffolks to £143, Continentals to £147, North Country mules to £120, Welsh mules to £112, Welsh to £85, cull rams to £146, cull wethers to £110 Store cattle - 67: Stronger cattle in tremendous demand selling to £1,175 for a 29-month charolais cross steer weighing 660kg. Other strong steers to £1,050 with several from 169p- 190p/kg. Younger steers included several dairy crosses and sold from £460 to £690. Good quality home bred Hereford steers to £775 for 445kg.

Strong heifers all sold well to £835 for home bred limousin cross at 21 months. Better sorts all from 160p- 181p/kg. Again there was a demand for heifers to go for bulling with younger British blue cross from £590-£635.

Hereford heifers to £695 and crosses from £535-£590.

Some Angus cross weaned calves sold to £400 for four and five month old bulls with three-to-four month heifers from the same farm at £260. All ages from four months to 36 months can sell to competitive trade.

The beef type cows and calves sold to an easier trade with simmental cross first calvers with heifer calves from £970- £1070. The entry of five barren cows and a bull sold to £1255 for a 1120kg Hereford bull, with cows to £1025 and others from £498-£945 (104p-138p/kg).

Extraordinary sales in the autumn: August 16, breeding ewes; September 6, breeding ewes; September 20, ewe lambs; September 29, Hereford store cattle; October 4, ewe lambs; October 13, store cattle; October 27, store cattle; November 10, store cattle. All are on Thursday instead of the normal Wednesday sale.

Hay on Wye Market, July 28 Brightwells report an insufficient entry. Far better trade than expected with an overall average of 2.02p and £84.50 per head. Top price of £90.20 (45kg) from Messrs Price, Sheephouse Cottages followed by £89.50 from Messrs Pritchard, Primrose Bank (46kg) and Messrs Davies, Dan y Comin (44kg) with Messrs Richards, Abbey selling 44kg at £89. Top per kg was 2.06p (42kg £86.50) from Messrs Pritchard, Primrose Bank followed by Messrs Price, Sheephouse Cottages at 205.2p (42kg £86.20), Messrs Lloyd, New Barns at 204.7p (43kg £88), Messrs Jones, Caeronen at 204.3p (42kg £85.80) with Nantyglasdwr Farms at 204.2p (42½kg £86.80).

Kington Market, July 28 McCartney’s of Kington report a good entry of 2,500 sheep.

The lambs sold to an excellent trade with a marked improvement on previous days trading of approximately 12 to 14p/kg, which was mainly due to less numbers being marketed nationally because of the good harvest weather. The lambs sold generally between 200p/kg and 215p/kg and were in excellent demand by the buyers.

There was an entry of 2,200 lambs which averaged 204p/kg up to 215p/kg, with all 2,200 lambs averaging £87 per head.

Heavier lambs sold well and averaged 194p/kg. The lambs sold to a top of £95 per head from Messrs Morgan and Co.

Some 33kg lambs from S O and J O Allman made £68.80, 38kg lambs from T J Pritchard made £80.20, 39kg lambs from A E and L J Morris made £84, 40kg lambs from A M and R E Griffiths made £86, 42kg lambs from C M and W C Phillips made £89, 44kg lambs from J P and G L Davies made £89, 45kg lambs from H J W Hammonds made £90.20, 46kg lambs from P W Jones made £90.50, 50kg lambs from K A Davies made £91.50, 52kg lambs from Messrs Morgan and Co made £95. There was a good entry of 300 cull ewes selling to another excellent trade which would be comparable to last week where the buyers were fulfilling orders for next weeks ethnic festival. The ewes sold to a top of £138 for some texel cross ewes from JM Johnson and to average £86.70 per ewe, Tups sold to £130 and to average £110, The cull ewes included a large proportion of thinner mule ewes and smaller hill ewes.

Auctioneers have buyers for in excess of 3,000 lambs and 750 cull sheep per week.

Knighton Market, July 28 McCartneys report an entry of 1,195 prime lambs and 239 cull sheep.

An excellent lamb trade being far stronger than the beginning of the week averaging 196.64p/kg many handy weight lambs (36.5-43kg) were making 200p/kg or more. Trade topped at 207p/kg for 41kg texel cross lambs to £85 per head from C B and E M Lewis & Son, Hobarris. Also to £82.60 per head from H J Middleton and Son, Chapel Lawn. 202p/kg for 41.5kg charollais cross lambs to £93.80 per head from L E Williams and Son, Monaughty Poeth.

201p/kg for 41.50 kilo texel cross lambs to £83.50 per head from P R Price and Son, Llanshay.

200.50p/kg for both 40.50kg texel cross lambs to 81.20 per head from F R Davies, Paradise Farm and 43kg texel cross lambs to £86.20 per head from J B Morris, Lower Litton.

Top price per head was £93 for 50kg charollais cross lambs from J W Watkins and Son, Heartsease. Also to £92.20 per head for 50kg Suffolk cross lambs from R T Bright and Son, Shadwell.

£92 per head for 56.50kg mule lambs from T A Swancott and Son, The Lawn.

£90 per head for both 46kg texel cross lambs form D E Evans, Field Farm and 47.50kg texel cross lambs from D W Price, Ackhill. More lambs could have been sold to advantage.

Another stong ewe trade followed averaging £77.76 per head and selling to £123 per head for texel ewes from A P Morgan, Hill View.

Also to £120 per head for texel cross ewes from both K and J Davies, Cefncoch and D W Price, Ackhill.

Mule ewes topped at £116 per head from D W Price, Ackhill.

Suffolk and texel cross ewes to £110 per head from T L Morris and Co, Stud Farm. Texel x ewes also to £109 per head from K and J Davies, Cefncoch, £103 per head from H and J Lewis, Neaudd and £100 per head from P A Goodwin, Lower Stanage. £103 per head for Suffolk cross ewes from C Gittoes and Son, Village Farm.

Mule ewes also £99 per head from R H Watkins and Son, Marlwo, £98 per head from D W Price, Ackhill and £93 per head from G E Lloyd and Son, Middle Cwmheyope.

Welsh ewes to £79 per head from T A Swancott and Son, The Lawn. Speckled ewes to £78.50 per head from the same home.

The next sale of prime lambs and cull sheep is today (Thursday). More livestock needed in all sections to meet buyers demands.

Average prices for premium and prime lambs of various weights as follows: 30.5-36kg, prime 188.00p/kg; 36.5- 43kg, premium 205.42p/kg, prime 198.73p/kg; 43.5- 48kg, premium 198.86p/kg, prime 192.20p/kg; 48.5kg and over, premium 186.68p/kg, prime 181.48p/kg.