There is no doubting Scotland's sheep farmers have experienced one of the worst winters and subsequently lambings on record, going by the reports of fallen stock up and down the country, however, on the flip side, the huge losses should result in increased prices for both prime and breeding sheep.

That was the welcoming news from organising committee of this year's ScotSheep event to be staged at Kings Arms Farm, Ballantrae, on Wednesday, May 31, by kind permission of Robert and Caroline Dalrymple.

Speaking at a pre-event press conference, John Fyall, regional chairman of the National Sheep Association in Scotland, said fallen stock numbers of ewes were up 60% on the year in the month of April alone, which coupled with the huge losses of lambs would affect supplies later in the year.

"The long winter and late spring has impacted on all areas of Scotland and many areas south of the Border to include Cumbria, Northumberland and Devon, with actual sheep losses, and particularly lambs, still to be quantified," said Mr Fyall.

"The shortage of grass also means that the earliest new season lambs will be slower to finish which should help to keep the trade strong for hoggs and the first of the early lambs."

It was a point echoed by George Allan, chairman of the ScotSheep organising committee and secretary of the Scotch Mule Association.

"Trade for hoggets has been phenomenal in recent weeks, which augurs well for new-season lamb when it starts hitting the market.

“It is disappointing that flocks in some areas suffered heavy losses during the snow storms of early March and it has been a slow season because of the cold, wet weather. Grass has been slow to grow and more feed was having to be bought-in, adding to farmers’ costs.

“However, with strong demand for Scotch lamb at both home and abroad, reduced imports from New Zealand, and possibly lower lamb numbers, the prospects for this year’s lamb trade look promising,” said Mr Allan.

While many sheep farmers are still lambing, lamb numbers are already forecast to be down at least 6% (1.1m head) to 17m head, due to the poor lambing conditions experienced across the country, according to AHDB Beef and Lamb. It is therefore expected to be the smallest lamb crop since 2013.

With new season lambs slower finish, old season lamb prices have already reached record levels this year. At more than £6 per deadweight kg at the start of April, this surpassed the previous best by around 70p per kg, according to AHDB.

Even yet, old season lamb values are way ahead of 2017 prices, with the average liveweight trade in Scotland on Monday this week cashing in at 240p, and 238p on Tuesday, which compares to 246.1p and 245.8p, respectively, south of the Border.

New season lambs are roughly 50p per kg higher, with prices in Scotland on Monday working out at 303p and 287.6p on Tuesday, against, 304p and 306p, in England and Wales.

John Fyall remains positive the buoyant trade will continue too due to increased demand for lamb on the continent and particularly Germany, coupled with reduced imports from New Zealand, in part due to the strength of the NZ dollar but also high domestic prices down under both of which makes lamb from NZ less competitive.

As it is, UK exports of sheep meat are forecast to rise by 9% (1900 tonnes) on-the-year in quarter one of 2018, to 22,400t cwe, with total reported exports for the year forecast to grow by 3% (3100t), to 97,300t cwe.

Imports are forecast to fall again this year too as New Zealand continues to focus on the Chinese and US markets. According to Beef and Lamb NZ, the kiwis already have a lower number of lambs left available to slaughter than at this time last year. They also claim the profit margins on exporting sheep meat to China and the US are more attractive than the EU at the moment. Hence, UK imports of sheep meat are forecast to drop 12% on 2017 levels or 11,000tonnes, to 83,000 tonnes cwe in 2018.