Good start boosts lamb prospects
PRIME LAMB numbers are forecast to increase this year, according to new figures from the English Beef and Lamb Executive.
High conception rates last autumn coupled with reduced losses due to good weather this spring, suggest the number of lambs slaughtered this year will rise 4% to 13.5m.
This would mean around 6000 extra prime lambs to be marketed.
EBLEX says good lamb supplies could help to boost export volumes, helping to underpin domestic prime lamb values.
But it warns that France, the UK’s key export market, will again prove challenging.
Meat and Livestock Commission economist Duncan Sinclair said export competition from Irish lamb could be down this year, providing an opportunity to make up the difference with UK sheepmeat.
“We expect total exports to be relatively stable this year at about 76,000t, although exchange rates will still be very influential.”
Norman Bagley, of the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers, said spring lamb trading so far had been fairly firm.
And the removal of retention periods for sheep subsidy claims would allow lambs to be marketed more consistently, he said.
“If farmers market lambs in more normal patterns, the increased supply should not affect prime values.”
The EBLEX forecast also suggested that without sheep annual premium stocking densities and retention periods, fewer ewe-lambs would be kept back this year and would enter the slaughter market.