WHILE prime sheep have been on a bit of a rollercoaster in recent weeks, reduced numbers coming forward have helped bolster trade, with the majority of early markets this week - both north and south of the Border - enjoying a welcome boost.

On Monday, a 25% decline in the number of lambs forward at centres in Scotland, saw the overall Scottish lamb trade rise 6.3p per live kg on the week to 181.0p for 3771, with the SQQ for 2349 sold, cashing in at 186.9p, up 7.7p.

Scottish markets saw a further increase on the week in values on Tuesday, albeit for higher numbers, with some 2580 head levelling at 179.6p, (+6.7p) while the SQQ for 2058 was 182.6p (+7.9p).

Prices have, however, not been as buoyant south of the Border, with GB averages on Monday for some 25,641 old season lambs levelling at 176.1p, up 1.5p on the week, with the SQQ for 14,025 at 182.9p.

On Tuesday, just 11,537 head were cashed, down a massive 39% on the week, to level at 175.8p, up 1.4p, with the 7165 SQQ lambs at 181.0p showing a rise of 1.2p on the last seven days.

"Trade should hold up as there are not the numbers out there, compared to last year and there is not going to be the volume of new season spring lambs on the market for a while yet," said Archie Hamilton, sheep auctioneer at C and D Auction Marts' Longtown centre.

And while the trade remains below last year's levels, he said: "it is not a disaster.

"The sheep job is manageable - it just has to be more consistent," said Mr Hamilton. "Last week, we sold 3400 hoggs to average 186p with an SQQ of 193p, but at the same sale the previous year, 5800 hoggs were cashed at 189p with an SQQ of 198p.

Ewes, Mr Hamilton said were also down on the extreme rates of 2015 at this time, but with heavy ewes levelling at £87 and lights at £54, they are still a good trade.

Further north, at Aberdeen and Northern Marts' Thainstone Centre, sheep auctioneer, Colin Slessor, said numbers had tightened over the past couple of weeks and are likely to remain so.

As a result, prices there improved by 6.4p on the week, to average 182.6p for 3279 head with the SQQ for 1595 rising 3.4p to 189.5p.

Backing up claims of reduced prime sheep numbers, the AHDB said numbers of old season lambs coming to GB auction markets were down 20% on the week, for the week ending April 13, leaving throughputs almost a third lower than the same period in 2015.

Deadweight slaughterings were estimated to be 5% lower on the week and 28% less that the previous year.

And, while only a select number of new season lambs have been sold in Scotland, numbers and prices south of the Border are slipping.

On Tuesday, some 669 lambs were cashed throughout GB to average 229.6p, which was a fall of 8.3p on the week. The previous day, 3567 sold at 223.9p, down 7.7p.

New season lamb prices are also slipping in Northern Ireland with 212 lambs in Rathfriland selling to average of 439p per kg compared to 64 lambs the previous week at 480p/kg. Similarly, at Ballymena, 100 spring lambs cashed in at 417p against 420p per kg the seven days prior.

Old season lamb prices for the same week in the province ranged from 420-425p per deadweight kg up to 22kg to average 420.4p, up 11.6p on the week.