Store and Breeding Sheep Sale report – Friday 26th July 2024

Sales Report – Friday 26^th July

Store Sheep – 5,711 Sold

Auctioneer: John Rossiter 07557 392903

The first of the Friday sheep sales of the 2024 season took place last week and with over 6,000 store lambs penned it was a big day with a considerable crowd around the ring, some with high expectations of the trade. Some vendors have assumed that store prices would increase exponentially due to the incredibly high hogget prices in spring. Unfortunately, this simply is not sustainable, and buyers are cautious of the trade moving forward. The overall average of £89 head is down on last year’s figure, but in my opinion, it was a very similar trade with the overall quality of the entry not at the same level as we saw 12 months ago. A large amount of the stronger, fleshed lambs have already been sold in the finished section this year, and we also had approximately 1,000 smaller, long term lambs on offer this year which in turn pulled the overall average down.
With August still ahead of us, and many finishers facing uncertain times ahead regarding winter keep crops due to the new arable schemes etc, to see the trade at a similar level to last year was really where expectations should have been. The cost and high associated risk to get a £90 store lamb to a £130 finished lamb is considerable and with many of these lambs looking at being finished on this side of Christmas, when the trade is never at its height , we must keep expectations realistic for this season and not expect record prices to be broken in every single sale.
Strong lambs, this time, generally pushed past £100 head and the best over £110, topping at £117 for some strong Charolais crosses from D Howard Farms Ltd. Top call in the Texel section went to Alex Pynn at £114, which was equalled by J Biddle with Charolais cross.