The future is bright for sheep farmers going by the first of the store lamb sales which are witnessing an increased demand and not surprisingly improved averages for all breeds and crosses at all centres.

And, according to those in the know, the trade looks rosy for the foreseeable future, with many blaming the continued decline in the national ewe flock and the horrendous winter and spring, which resulted in a smaller lamb crop, as the main reasons.

“The sheep trade is definitely buoyant,” said Harrison and Hetherington auctioneer, Grant Anderson, who was the man in the box at the first two store lamb sale at Carlisle, last week.

“Our first sale at Carlisle last week was very good, and Monday’s sale was well up on the year selling to a top of £73.50 per head for young Texel lambs out of Beltex cross ewes. 27kg Texel crosses were making £55 on Monday, whereas the same lambs last year would have been selling at £45-£46. This year, the cheapest lambs we sold at £45 per head were Jacobs.”

While he added that numbers were down a couple of hundred on the year, due to the poor winter and spring, Grant also pointed out more buyers were forward which included a number of cattle finishers who are unable to make money on beef cattle at present due to the high store cattle prices which combined with soaring feed costs and a poor finished price are switching to finishing store lambs instead.

But, it’s the shortfall in numbers that is really boosting the trade throughout the sector.

“Prime lambs are a good 20p per liveweight kg higher than this time last year which puts a bit of confidence in the market. Our first breeding sheep sale also saw averages up £5-£6 per head, and its all due to the the shortage coming forward.”

Monday also witnessed the opening store lamb sale of the season at Caithness Livestock Centre, where overall averages for the 2500 Cheviot ewe and wedder lambs sold increased by £8.49 on the year to level at £52.54.

“It was a great sale with plenty of people,” said auctioneer, John Bremner. “Ewe lambs averaged £50.89 and the wedder lambs levelled at £52.57, but we were 500 short of last year’s numbers. There were a few people who were unable to sell as they hadn’t received their electronic tags, but sheep in general are scarce so I think the good trade will continue.”

And, at Tuesday’s sale of 6438 store lambs at Dingwall, overall averages were up more than £5 per head.

“There were about 800 less store lambs than normal due to the back log in obtaining electronic tags, but the sale was good, with a lot of new buyers,” said Dingwall and Highland Marts auctioneer, Paul Spencer.

“Last year’s sale was extremely strong and this year’s sale was even better, but there is a limit as to how far prices can go up on a store lamb,” Mr Spencer said adding that the trade looks firm for the foreseeable future due to the short fall in numbers from the continued decline in the national ewe flock and a lot more enquiries for store lambs from new buyers.

At Dingwall, the 3681 Cheviot wedder lambs averaged £50.82; 1652 Cheviot ewe lambs cashed in at £48.68; 652 Texel cross lambs averaged £58.65; 274 Suffolk crosses, £59.65 while other breeds levelled at £48.05.

Also boosting the trade is the fact that prime sheep are still a good deal more last year.

“Our prime lambs averaged 170p per kg yesterday, which is 20p per kg more compared to the corresponding week last year, which is an extra £8 per head on a 40kg lamb,” said Mr Spencer.

Store lambs were also £10-£12 per head up on the year at United Auctions Livestock Centre at Stirling, last week, where Texel cross lambs cashed in at £62.15, Suffolk cross lambs levelled at £63.05 and Mules averaged £58.18.

The real tell-tale signs will come next week though for the main Cheviot sales in the north, which includes the famous Lairg lamb sales being staged this year a day earlier than normal, on Tuesday, August 17.