The beef price offered in most abattoirs in Scotland is £4.20/kg for R grading continental steers.

The official Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) beef price for an R4L steer is £4.21/kg, which is up 1p.

Same-grade heifers were £4.22/kg, which is up 4p/kg on the week. The young bull price is £4.07/kg deadweight, which is up 3p/kg.

Last week, there were 908 cows slaughtered in Scotland out of 7,269 in Britain

The premium over English prices is sitting around 10p/kg.

The AHDB official price for cows in Scotland is unchanged at £3.18/kg for an 0-4. However, R grading cows are over £3.40/kg.

Last week, there were 908 cows slaughtered in Scotland out of 7,269 in Britain.

Mart sales

Ayr Mart sold 622 store cattle, with steers averaging £2.37/kg or £1,096/head and heifers £2.24/kg or £1,057/head.

The top price was £530 for a British Blue-cross calf

There was also 31 Friesian bullocks sold for an average of £2.02/kg or £894/head. The top price was £1,670 for a Limousin-cross heifer.

They also sold 186 calves and young stores. The top price was £530 for a British Blue-cross calf. Across the sale, the prices were from £300 to £450 per calf.

United Auctions sold 893 store cattle, with prices little changed on the week, as steers averaged £2.40/kg and heifers averaged £2.28/kg. They also sold 139 dairy steers for an average of £1.92/kg, down 12p/kg.

Lamb price dip

Scottish abattoir lamb price fell this week by 20p to 30p/kg to around £5.20/kg for R grades this week. While many may be disappointed in the drop, the price is still up to £20/head over last year.

Monday’s sales at Ayr, Lanark and St Boswells didn’t change much on the week, with prices between £2.50/kg and £2.58/kg. United Auctions sale dropped 36p/kg to £2.25/kg and Thainstone fell 29p/kg to £2.19/kg. Newton Stewart sold 971 lambs last week for £2.40/kg or £104/head.

United Auctions held their second store lamb sale of 6,139 animals

The AHDB price for Britain for the week ending 24 July was £5.64/kg for an R3L carcase, up 6p/kg.

E grading lambs are getting a premium of around 10p/kg on average. The ewe price in Scotland remains strong, with many sales averaging close to £100/head.

United Auctions held their second store lamb sale of 6,139 animals. Texel-cross lambs made £82/head, down £6 on the week; Beltex-cross £82/head, down £5; Suffolk-cross £83, down £4; Cheviots £79.50, up £3.50; Mules £78, down £3; Cheviot-cross Mules £80, down £1; and Blackfaces were £49.

Quoybrae Mart in Caithness sold store lambs last week to an average of £80/head, with a top price of £88.50 for a pen of continental-bred lambs.

There was also a sale of 978 feeding ewes and rams which averaged £103/head.

Thainstone sold 1,022 breeding gimmers on 30 July which averaged £186/head, up £23 on the year.