With spring lamb prices falling by £1 per kilo deadweight in the past 2 weeks and prices £1.40/kgdw below this time last year it seems that the good days could be over. 

No, I think this is just a blip caused by over supply due to too many hoggets being sold at once because the grass all ran out at the same time. There's also consumer resistance to high meat prices at the supermarkets as the non farming community are in recession and they are being careful with their pennies.

We may not see lamb prices quite as good as last year but cheap food is a thing of the past IMHO. Fingers crossed.

Hoprfully the hoggets will get cleared up in the next 2 wks and retailers switch to spring lamb.  Strengthening Euro will hit lamb prices and ultimately farm incomes this year

Up until about 5 years ago it was a waste of time selling hoggets after the 10th of April or so, now there doesn't seem to be the volume of early lambs on the market, has everyone switched to later lambing like me?

Over here in the East the last weeks rain and the forecast for this week will not make the lambs grow in the fields, looks like good old-fashioned coccidiosis weather to me.

welshnwilling:

We may not see lamb prices quite as good as last year but cheap food is a thing of the past IMHO. Fingers crossed

Good old David. You are an optimist (with your fingers crossed) after all. However, I do think you are right and that food will take a larger slice of a family's spend for some years to come.

Peter Wells:

You are an optimist (with your fingers crossed) after all

Yes Peter I am most of the time and although I'm not a religious person, I do have 'faith' that things will always turn out OK in the end (somehow).

Back to the subject in question, does anyone know if there's a shortage of lambs on the continent following the Schmallenberg outbreak ? As some optimist once said 'every cloud has a silver lining'.

if this weather doesnt improve, there will be a shortage of lambs in scotland!

welshnwilling:

Peter Wells:

You are an optimist (with your fingers crossed) after all

Yes Peter I am most of the time and although I'm not a religious person, I do have 'faith' that things will always turn out OK in the end (somehow).

Back to the subject in question, does anyone know if there's a shortage of lambs on the continent following the Schmallenberg outbreak ? As some optimist once said 'every cloud has a silver lining'.

 It looks like lamb production in Holland and Belgium will be down by around 10%, the western part of Germany perhaps a little more, and northern France rather less.  Since none of these are huge lamb producers, any shortage may be small.  On the other hand, buyers are rarely absolutely rational in response to a possible shortage, and if they panic, it could push prices up significantly.  As a speculation, I wonder how many sheep farmers in Europe will give up this year as a result of Schmallenberg experience?  The sheer unpleasantness of it outweighs the numerical loss, as far as I can see, and having lost just one lamb to Schmallenberg myself (and that not confirmed).

glasshouse:

if this weather doesnt improve, there will be a shortage of lambs in scotland!

same here in my part of wales,  fields are slowly turning to mud, and much weter than thy were in winter

been raining for nearly 30 hrs non stop now.

Thought about this thread from April in relation to the current thread about sheep.

The signs were there all year that sheep weren't going to be good early or late.

 I must admit I didn't imagine it would get this bad. Let's just say 2012 was a write off and start again on January 1st with a clean slate. Glass always half full !

Would agree but will be starting it with an empty glass and some empty bottles too.

Here's hoping!!!