Store lambs reach £78 high at Leek Market

A busy day at Leek Market with 6,014 store lambs and breeding ewes exchanging hands with buyers continuing to attend from a wide area, with medium term and smaller lambs looking particularly well sold.

The majority of the entry was store lambs with 4,613 selling up to £78 for Texel wethers from P Heath of Bradnop with other Texel lambs at £77 and £76 from H Goodwin of Alstonefield. Mr Shaw of Tideswell realised up to £75 with other Texels up to £72 from P Cooper and £72 from G Millington of Wincle and £69.50 from P & H Bailey of Onecote.

Texel ewe lambs sold up to £77 from F H White with Suffolk ewe lambs from P Hooley up to £71 and £70.

Oxford mixed lambs from Reg Phillips topped at £72 with Charollais tup lambs up to £73.50 from F Belfield of Meerbrook and Charollais mixed lambs up to £69.50 from I Archer of Elkstones and also from R Longden and Sons of Chinley.

Cheviot mixed lambs from Norman Eardley of Wildboarclough sold up to £60 with Lleyn mixed lambs from Mr Davenport of Leekbrook at £62.50.

Gritstones up to £58.50 from J Wint & Partners of Onecote.

Mule wether lambs were a particularly strong trade selling to a maximum price of £62 from Eddie Kidd of Quarnford, £60.20 from G Tunnicliffe and £58 from N Sidebottom.

Zwarble ram lambs from Mrs K Kidd sold up to £60 with Kerry Hill wether lambs from Mr Thornley up to £55.50.

Overall average for lambs was £60.80

In the breeding section a good entry of mule ewe lambs saw a top price of £91 from Mr Prince of Grindon and £88 from S Coates of Fenny Bentley, with other mule ewe lambs from the same vendor at £76 (twice) and £75, with a further pen from G Tunnicliffe also at £75.

Zwarble ewe lambs from S Bowdler of Wolverhampton sold well at £87.

Overall average for ewe lambs was £66.55.

There were 424 ewes on offer topping at £96 for a pen of correct Texel ewes from Henry Critchlow of Alstonefield with other correct ewes from J Kent at £91 and mule correct ewes from G Huxley at £90.

Mule ewes sold correct in the udder from Mr Etches of Dowall Hall were a good trade at £77 with other grazing ewes from the same vendor also at £77.

Masham ewes from Charley Ratcliffe at £70.

Two shear Texel ewes from Harold Goodwin of Alstonefield realised £76.

There was a particularly strong trade for grazing ewes with the average returned of £57.19.