Lamb ignores autumn lifts
Lamb ignores autumn lifts
AT this time of year, its usually a case of how quickly lamb prices rise after the summer low-point.
Not so this year, with average values falling again on Monday to 108p/kg.
And with a widespread belief among auctioneers that a big backlog of lambs is waiting to be sold, some are suggesting prices will stay steady or just rise slowly.
"Grass has been growing well and farmers have not been forced to sell big numbers of sheep," says Brian Pile, auctioneer at Banbury, Oxon. "But a lot of people will want to see them gone by the beginning of November, because they will then need the grass for the ewes."
Meanwhile the trade is split into two sections, says Mr Pile. The well-fleshed, fit lambs, for which there is strong demand – and the lean, shelly lambs, some of which may kill-out as low as 43%, which are attracting limited interest from slaughterers.
Gavin Loynes, auctioneer at Gloucester, says the inclement weather has resulted in a lot of plain, half-meated sheep, with low killing-out rates.
But Gloucester saw an average of 112p/kg on Monday, with a top of £51 a head, paid for two pens of 46kg Suffolk cross Mules.
In the past, the heavier lambs have sometimes been penalised, says Mr Loynes. But this year there is a strong demand for the 42kg-plus sorts.
And that, he says, is good news for farmers who bought pricey store lambs earlier in the season and are now hoping to make money by putting extra weight on them.n