Scottish abattoirs are paying farmers £6.20/kg for R grading hoggets up to 21kg which is unchanged on the week.

The Monday live sales jumped up by 8-11p/kg with £2.76/kg at Ayr, £2.83/kg at Lanark and £2.83/kg at St Boswells. Tuesday’s sales saw similar prices of £2.68-£2.83/kg for hoggets. Across Scotland the average for the week ending 27 February was £2.76/kg for medium weight hoggets.

The official Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) price for across GB was £6.17/kg for an R3L carcase which is up 6p/kg.

The ewe price in Scotland rose £2/head to £77/head for nearly 6,000 sheep sold.

Beef price

Scottish farmers are still getting paid between £3.80 to £3.85/kg for R grade continental cattle in abattoirs.

The AHDB price for R grading steers for the week ending 27 February was £3.88/ kg, which is unchanged on the week. Same-grade heifers were £3.90/kg which is up 2p on the week. The young bull price up 10p/kg to £3.71/kg.

Finished cows were reported by the AHDB at £2.71/kg for an 0-4, which is up 4p/kg on the week. Across marts in Scotland beef-bred cows average £1.47/kg and dairy cows averaged £1.12/kg in the live ring.

Strong store trade

It was a big week for Scottish marts who sold big numbers of store cattle where steers 465kg to 555kg averaged £2.24/kg down 5p/kg and same weight heifers sold for £2.30/kg. Heavier steer stores over 555kg were selling at an average of £2.04/kg and heifers over 480kg were averaging £2.15/kg.

Thainstone sold over 1,700 store cattle in another strong sale steers averaging £2.47/kg down 6p/kg, heifers £2.43/kg no change on the week. Twenty-five young bulls were sold for an average of £2.67/kg.

Ayr mart sold store steers which averaged £2.35/kg up 6p/kg or £1,046/head, heifers which averaged £2.25/kg or £998/head and Friesian steers which averaged £1.81/kg or £935/head.

Lanark Mart sold over 1,100 store cattle with steers averaging £2.38/kg and heifers £2.32/kg. St Boswells mart’s store sale average £2.49/kg for steers and £2.31/kg for heifers.

United Auctions sold 1,560 store cattle with steers averaging £2.43/kg, dairy steers £1.85/kg, heifers £2.33/kg and young bulls £2.23/kg.

Fodder sale

Aberdeen Northern Marts held a fodder sale this week where inside 4x4 straw bales were selling for £12/bale and outside bales selling for £8.50/bale. Silage bales averaged £8.50/bale and good quality hay for £14.50/bale. Turnips were sold for £28/t to £31/t ex-farm.

Carlisle’s fodder sale saw barley straw mini Heston bales dropped £5/t to £143/t and round bales sold to £33/bale. Wheat straw was down £3/t to £142/t and oat straw at £136/t. Round bales of hay sold to £20/bale and round bales of silage sold to £18/bale.