Lambs rose 10p/kg in Scotland, with abattoirs paying £5.20/kg up to 22kg for R grading carcases. Prime sales in marts are rising too with nearly all above £2.30/kg making a 45kg lamb £103.50.

In Scotland, there were 13,312 prime lambs sold in marts. The official Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) price for R3L lambs across the UK is £5.29/kg, up 5p for the week ending 16 October.

The price of store lambs is also rising, with good store lambs to be finished before Christmas close to £90/head.

The average at Thainstone last week was £84/head for the second week running.

The higher prices are being mostly felt with the poorer lambs which last year would have made £50/head but this year are closer to £70 and above.

At specialist sales, the change on the year is less marked, with Lanark’s second Blackface and Cheviot sale averaging £61/head, up £6 on the year.

Oban’s sale of 1,301 sheep saw store lambs average £60/head, up £14 on the year. This is a strong trade considering the lambs consisted mainly of fourth-draw types.

Orkney Mart sold 1,531 store lambs to an average of £72/head, with a top price of £96.50. The cull ewe price in Scotland averaged £63/head for the week ending 18 October, down £7/head.

Beef price solid

The rock solid price for cattle in Scotland is still between £4.10 and £4.20/kg for R grading steers in Scotland this week.

The AHDB beef price for an R4L steer is at £4.20/kg, up 1p. Same-grade heifers were £4.19/kg, no change on the week.

The young bull price is £4.04/kg deadweight, down 4p/kg. Cows grading O-4L were unchanged at £2.95/kg, down 1p.

Lanark held its spring-born calf show and sale, which averaged £2.48/kg for steers and £2.42/kg for heifers. Thainstone held a weaned calf sale where steers averaged £2.61/kg and heifers £2.54/kg.

United Auctions sold 1,832 store cattle, with steers averaging £2.27/kg and heifers £2.18/kg. Ayr sold over 700 stores last week, with steers averaging £2.24/kg, heifers £2.17/kg and Friesian steers £1.70/kg.

The sale on Islay of 393 cattle averaged £2.60kg for steers and £2.51/kg for heifers. Caledonian Mart in Stirling sold nearly 500 cattle last week, where bullocks averaged £2.26/kg and heifers £2.28/kg. The sale was topped at £1,250 for an organic Shorthorn steer.

Orkney Mart’s store sale averaged £2.17/kg for steers and £1,141/head. Heifers averaged £2.22/kg and £1,167/head. The top price on the day was £1,340 for a pair of Aberdeen Angus steers weighing 630kg.

Cull cows in Scotland average £1.33/kg liveweight for beef-bred cows and 98p/kg for dairy bred cows. There were just over 1,000 cull cows sold in marts last week.