FARMING
By Neale McQuistin
Harrison & Hetherington Ltd sold 74 clean cattle, 36 cast cows, 1,514 prime hoggets and 449 cast sheep at St Boswells yesterday.
There was an excellent show of prime cattle this week that met an improving trade. Twenty-three prime bullocks sold to 256p/kg and averaged 231p (+1p), while 46 prime heifers peaked at 266p to average 244p (+6p).
In the cast ring cows peaked at £1,692 and 237p to average 160p (-8p).
In the sheep ring prime hoggets peaked at £174 and 366p/kg for Beltex hoggs to average £127 (-£5) or 287p (-12p).
Heavy cast sheep sold to a top of £139 for Bluefaced Leicester ewes and averaged £116 (n/c), while light ewes peaked at £117 for Cheviot ewes and averaged £77 (-£5).
The firm also sold 19 prime heifers at Carlisle yesterday which peaked at 250p/kg and levelled at 213p (-7p), while 16 beef-bred bullocks sold to 242p and levelled at 222p (-6p).
Sixty-five young beef-bred bulls peaked at 270p and averaged 224p (+16p), while 35 dairy-bred young bulls sold to 211p and levelled at 182p (+4p).
In the rough ring 85 cast beef cows peaked at 266p to average 154p (+5p), while 218 cast dairy cows sold to 180p to average 125p (+1p). Ten cast bulls sold to 200p and averaged 147p (+11p).
The 1,454 prime hoggs sold to £170 and 384p/kg to average 289p (-7p).
In the cast sheep section 69 heavy ewes peaked at £132 for a Texel to average £68(-£29), while 34 hill ewes sold to £105 for Blackface to level at £71 (+£5).
Messrs Craig Wilson sold 1650 prime hoggets and 335 cast sheep at Ayr yesterday.
A plainer show of prime hoggets this week still averaged £121 (+£1) or 286p/kg (+3p) overall.Top prices were £155 on two occasions for pens of Beltex and 340p/kg – also for a pen of Beltex. Blackface hoggets peaked at £137 and 303p/kg.
Cast sheep numbers remain tight and trade keeps getting dearer. Top price of £187 was paid for Texel ewes, while Mules made up to £123 and Blackfaces sold to £97.
Lawrie and Symington sold 65 prime cattle and 76 cast cows at Lanark yesterday. Heifers sold to 256p/kg or to £1800. Bullocks sold to 248p on two occasions or to £1681. Cast beef cows peaked at £1,265 or 164p, while cast dairy cows sold to £1165 or 153p.
The firm also sold 3,624 prime hoggs which peaked at £167 for Texels and 365p/kg for Beltex. The overall average was 286p/kg.
The 1,677 cast sheep were a tremendous show and all classes were sharper this week as numbers tighten. Top price was £206 for a Texel with Blackfaces selling to £94.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here