Sheep with Lambs at Foot
North West Auctions J36 held its great annual show and sale of Hoggs with Lambs at Foot. This year saw a bumper entry of nearly 500 outfits of hoggs with lambs entered. There was an impressive line-up of top quality put before Judge Mr M Cook, Ulverston who we thank for his time and expertise. Thank also goes to our sponsors Mulberry Finance. A special thank you must also go to our vendors for turning out such a quality show of sheep, which continue to improve year on year. The overall Championship was awarded to the first prize pen of five Mule Hoggs from Messrs G Sowerby, Ormside who was also awarded the second prize in the Mule class. Both these pens later went on to sell for £220. The Reserve Championship pen was awarded to JC & E Pedley & Son, Sedbergh with their Continental Hoggs and Beltex lambs at foot, these went on to sell for £220. Also selling in excess of the £200 mark was Mule hoggs with Suffolk lambs from Winter Brothers, Appleby selling to £202. The consignment from AR Edmondson, Ulverston sold to a top of £202 and £195 for Mule hoggs with Suffolk lambs. Also achieving £200 was G & KM Atkinson, Colby for Continental hoggs with Beltex lambs. This was closely followed by Beltex hoggs with Beltex lambs at foot from NL Brown & CJ Ormondroyd, Claughton selling to £195. Good quality hoggs with good quality lambs met plenty of demand with buyers who were also looking for abortion vaccinated hoggs. Plenty of pens of good quality hoggs selling in the one hundred and seventies and eighties. All hoggs forward sold to a very respectable average £161.
The weekly sale of sheep with lambs at foot included a special consignment from Sue Cunliffe, Grange-Over-Sands who sold pure Texel females with ram lambs at foot to £300 twice and £280 with pure Texel females with twin gimmer lambs at foot selling to £240. Mule shearlings with twins sold to a top of £200 from M Atkinson, Burneside. Continental ewes with Continental twin lambs at foot sold to £185 from ER Ireton, Ambleside. Young Continental sheep with single lambs at foot sold to £135 from S & W Dickinson, Tebay.
Spring Lambs
There was a smaller entry of Spring Lambs forward this week of 128 selling to, once again, a very strong trade at J36. There was an overall market average of 254p/kg with an SQQ average of 258p/kg with, once again, light weight lambs in strongest demand with 32-39kg lambs selling to an average of 269p/kg. Texels sold to 284p/kg from H Pumphrey Armitage, Milnthorpe with 281p/kg achieved three times firstly from FE & CM Robinson, Crooklands for Dorsets and Texels and from J Stott Jnr, Crosscrake for Charollais. Top price per head was £126 for Charollais from J Stott Jnr purchased by Plumgarths Farm Shop. This was closely followed by Texels selling to £120 from W Garnett & Son, Milnthorpe. Dorsets sold to £119 from S Waller, Killington with Suffolks to £116 from TW Nelson & Son, Stainton. All spring lambs forward sold to a market average of £105.71.
Prime Hoggs
The weekly sale of Prime Hoggs saw well-fleshed and handy weight hoggs in the strongest demand and easily sold. Leading the way at £116 was heavy weight Texel hoggs from CG Birkett, Carnforth closely followed by £114 from Amanda Williams, St Helens. The consignment of hoggs from JG Harryman, Hawkshead sold to 236p/kg, 235p/kg and 2342p/kg with other Beltex hoggs from N Cooper & Sons, Torver selling to 232p/kg. Well-finished Herdwick hoggs sold to 216p/kg from A & L Birkett, Little Langdale with MR Tomms, Great Langdale selling Herdwick hoggs to 215p/kg. Swaledale hoggs sold to a top of 214p/kg from WI & A Atkinson & Son, Bleasdale. Hill bred hoggs saw Mules top at £96 from Messrs W Richardson & Son, Mealbank with horned hoggs to £89 from GJ Ibbotson, Roeburndale West and Herdwicks sold to £86.50 from A & L Birkett. All Prime Hoggs forward averaged 188p/kg with an SQQ average of 193p/kg.
Cast Sheep
There was a bumper entry of over 400 Cast sheep forward today selling to, once again, a strong trade. A consignment of Cast Ewes from GR & A Foy, Conder Green saw his Texel ewes sell to £121, £115 twice with other Continental ewes selling to £109 from H Pumphrey Armitage and £107 from J Allonby & Son, Grayrigg. Suffolk ewes sold to a top of £105 from DM & D Cook, Ulverston with CG Birkett, Carnforth selling Suffolk ewes to £105 and £99. Cheviot ewes topped at £97 from JW & YM Sharp, Lyth with Cheivot Mule ewes selling to £93 from Gibson & Berry, Endmoor. Mule ewes topped at £79 from W Richardson & Son. Plenty of pens of Mule ewes sold in the mid-seventies. Horned ewes topped at £74 for Dalesbreds from Gibson & Berry with Scottish Blackfaces to £73 from JW & TE Sharp, Lyth and Swaledales to £70 from the same good home. Rough Fell ewes topped at £67 from AJ & CM Harrison, Kentmere. Leaner types of continue to be in strong demand.
J36 continues to offer a very competitive trade for tups with Cheviots selling to £118 from JR Handley, Whinfel, Texels sold to £116 from J & R Waller, Killington, Leicester sold to £108 from J & J Postlethwaite, Howgill with Dalesbreds to £102 from WI & A Atkinson & Son, Bleasdale.
All Cast Sheep forward this week averaged £66.63 which included more hill bred sheep.