Fresh hope for sheep trade

By Peter Grimshaw

IT is easy to forget that two weeks ago, after a month of hot, dry weather, things looked even worse for the sheep sector than they do now.

Faced with diminishing grazing, many farmers in England and Wales appear to have decided to dump their poorest stock, particularly the least promising cull ewes, leading to a flood of virtually valueless animals.

Two weeks of rain that have brought tears to the eyes of wheat growers could remind sheep producers how to smile.

Grass grows as quickly in August as it does in May, and the market for store lambs and cull ewes may be on the turn.

That is the hope of Rob Meadmore of Russell Baldwin & Bright, who has big Welsh sheep sales coming up at Builth Wells.

He reported an altogether better trade for sheep at Hereford market yesterday than for a long time.

“Theres an abundance of grass, and theyve at last woken up to the value of yearlings,” he said.

“Money may be short, but if somethings good value, cash comes from somewhere.”

Store lambs met plenty of bids, ranging in value from 20-25, still about 5 below last years values, but an advance on recent weeks.

Finished lambs were making about 75p, with accurate averages as yet uncalculated. That means they are holding their value, albeit at levels 30p/kg below those of last season.

Similarly, with better quality to go for, Hereford had 10 buyers round the ring bidding for the 1500-1600 ewes offered.

Mr Meadmore believes the quality forward this week was much better than a fortnight or even a week ago.

“A lot of the Mule ewes we saw last week looked as if the lambs had just been taken off them. They were making 5-8, but today an altogether better show was making 15-18/head.

“Perhaps the trade has found the bottom,” said Mr Meadmore.

Bob Mosley, from Truro, expressed similar sentiment. “There was certainly an encouraging demand for finished lambs, with local butchers back to bid for the best from around 350.”

They made an average of 76p/kg, an improvement of 3p on the previous week, although Mr Mosley said many lambs were plain and required more finish.

Dick Cawthorne, of Invicta Meat, Bideford, says his company has had a similar problem in recent days with farmers unloading light unfinished lambs on direct farm sales, hoping to go out and buy in store lambs at an even lower price to finish later.

This pulls the average carcass weight down below Invictas 17.5kg target.

Mr Cawthorne believes the price of slaughter lambs will not now go lower. Even so, the company is finding its export business very hard going.

To begin with, it is still a holiday trade on the Continent, and then there is the competition from Irish lamb, which yesterday (Thursday) has an 18% currency advantage.

Mr Cawthorne puts this weeks operating costs – UK lairage to Continental store – at 5.70/head.

A year ago, he had more than 8 total offalling value to play with, allowing sale at equal value and leaving room for a profit.

But this year, skins are down to 1.90, livers are virtually valueless, and the total offal value of 2.40 means that the price to farmers is eroded.

“We need to add 30p/kg to the buying price,” says Mr Cawthorne, who says the number of lambs he has exported this year is about the same as last.

Meanwhile, he offers a glimmer of hope for the cull ewe trade. “People [on the Continent] are waking up to the fact that at a fiver, ewes are definitely worth it.

“The thing that put everybody off was the ridiculous rule about splitting the carcass. But now there are a score or more abattoirs over there licensed to split whole carcasses.”

He said Invicta Lamb was exploring the potential, although it does not normally handle ewes for export.