Well there is definitely a nip in the air and the nights are drawing in faster than I’d like. On a positive, the bramble hedges are filling up with blackberries and the trees are full of apples. Our Pietrain boar isn’t daft and rubs against trees to make apples fall so he can hoover up the tasty snacks.

There was a good turnout for the Whiteley Hey sale at NWA Kendal on Monday with a Beltex cross Texel shearling ram topping at £2,000. Not bad for commercial trade.

What a week Texels have had! The Scottish National had a record breaking sale, grossing more than £1.2 million for the first time in the breed's history. Charlie Boden’s ram lamb, Sportsman A Star, topped the sale at 130,000gns. Worcester set a new centre record too, with a Texel shearling from the Peacehay flock topping the sale at 23,000gns. Welshpool also saw new female and centre records when a Texel gimmer sold for 7,800gns.

In the prime rings, lambs dipped a little last week, but seem to have bounced back again at the beginning of this week and cattle remain a steady trade.

Have a good week,
Steph





Sales coming up this week...

• Thursday, August 31 – NWA Junction 36 is holding it's ‘Lad's Night Out’ - an evening show and sale of 600 terminal sire breeding rams
• Friday, September 1 – A sale of 2,500 North of England Mule ewe lambs will be held at Hexham and Northern Marts
• Saturday, September 2 – A reduction sale of agricultural machinery, livestock, building materials and rural bygones to be held at Belmont Farm, London, on instruction from Mr Andrew Reid and Belmont Children’s Farm, in conjunction with Howkins and Harrison
• Monday, September 4 – Skipton Auction Mart will host the Yorkshire Holstein Show and Sale of Dairy Cattle

Well last week went in a whirl. 24 hours in Farming (#Farm24), last Thursday, was a massive success with a huge increase of farmer involvement spreading the positive word of farming.

Last week I sold Suffolks for the first time at Stirling, which was a step up selling alongside established and renowned breeders.

There were some serious prices made and topping the sale at 26,000gns was a tup lamb from the Solwaybank flock and 24,000gns was given for a Strathbogie tup lamb.
I sold what I consider to be the best Suffolk tup I've bred to date for a more modest 1,500gns. None the less, I was delighted with what he made.

More tup sales approach, making more work washing and dressing. On top of this, we've gone back to the start of the cycle and been AI'ing the Suffolk ewes.

Surprisingly, for the time of year, prime sheep have seen a lift in prices at the beginning of the week and store lambs sales seem to be buoyant on the back of this.

Prime cattle prices are also holding up well, so let’s hope it continues when cattle start to come in off grass.

Dairy cattle trade seems to be booming as confidence in the sector improves, with some more milk price rises announced this week.

Sales coming up this week

Friday, August 4 – Leyburn Mart will be hosting its summer dairy show and sale  Friday, August 4 – The sale of 304 pedigree Zwartbles sheep and 206 pedigree Suffolk sheep will be held at H&H Borderway Mart Saturday, August 5 – Voyce Pullin will be hosting the British White Cattle Society Sale at Cirencester Market  Monday,  August 7 – Special catalogued sale of breeding ewes and stock rams will be held at Beeston Castle, Wright Marshall