Farming
By Neale McQuistin
Harrison and Heatherington sold 75 clean cattle, 87 cast cows, 1,736 prime lambs and 445 cast sheep at St Boswells yesterday.
Twenty-seven beef-bred, prime bullocks sold to 314p/kg to average 277p (-11p), while 47 heifers peaked at 322p and averaged 281p (+3p). One prime young bull sold for 179p.
Cast cows sold to 237p and £1,984 to average 189p (-6p), while four cast bulls peaked at £2,028 and 191p to average 172p.
Prime lambs sold to £149 for Texels and 284p for Beltex to average £109 or 241p (+4p) overall.
Cast sheep averaged £79 overall (n/c) and sold to £155 for a Texel ram. Heavy ewes averaged £108 (-£1), while light ewes sold to £91 for North Country Cheviot ewes to average £68 (n/c).
Caledonian Marts sold 512 store (mainly dairy-bred) cattle at its fortnightly sale at Stirling yesterday. The firm also held its October Show & Sale of Suckled Calves. The overall champion came from Islay from the McMillian’s at Eorabus. Their heifer scaled at 295kg and made £2,200 or 746p/kg to the judge.
Bullocks sold to 393p/kg for a Limousin and to £1,440 for a pen of Ayrshires to average 224p. Heifers peaked at 746p for a Limousin and to £2,200 for the same beast to average 221p. Black & Whites sold to 197p and to £970.
Messrs Craig Wilson sold 2,405 prime lambs and 642 cast sheep at Ayr yesterday.
A smaller show of prime lambs would be a lot sharper on the week, especially export weights. Consequently, the whole sale averaged 237p (+12p) or £108 (+£6) per head. Top prices were £136 for a pen of nine Suffolks and 305p/kg for a pen of Beltex. Prime Mules sold to £120 and 232p for a pen of 21.
Cast ewes were a very similar show to last week with a lot of smaller hill sheep forward. Top price of £210 was paid for a Texel ewe. Texel cross ewes peaked at £150, while Scotch Mules sold to a top of £91. Two pens of Blackface ewes sold at £70.
Lawrie & Symington sold 38 prime cattle, 102 cast cows, 3905 prime lambs and 2605 cast sheep at Lanark.
Twenty-four prime, beef-breed heifers sold to 308p and averaged 282p (+2p), while nine beef-breed bullocks peaked at 304p to average 280 (-2p). Five young bulls averaged 228p (n/c). In the cast ring 50 beef cows averaged 182p (-4p), while 49 dairy cows averaged 146p (-2p). Three cast bulls averaged 165p (-5p). Prime lambs peaked at £143 and 304p/kg to average 233p (+3p). Cast ewes sold to £256 for a Texel ewe and averaged £72 (-£2) overall. Blackface ewes (832) peaked at £128.
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