View from the Rostrum

Here at Wooler Mart in north Northumberland, Wednesday is our main sale day for prime stock, with prime lambs and cast ewes going through the ring. We also hold monthly store sales sometimes fortnightly, depending on the time of year.

 

Our breeding sheep sale will take place in mid-September. This year, we’re expecting a few rams to be included in the sale because there are some tups which I know are not being sold at The Border Union Kelso Ram sales due to Bluetongue implications.

 

In addition, if these regulations continue, we want to make sure we’re supporting our regular customers who can’t cross the border to sell their store lambs at our St Boswells Mart, so we will most probably hold a couple of store lamb sales here at Wooler to cater for this. And of course, we’ll also have our noted autumn store cattle sales, which are always important sales for the mart.

 

Here at Wooler, we’ve had a very good show of lambs and ewes most weeks. Momentum in sales has been maintained and in terms of trade in recent weeks, strong prices being achieved. At our weekly Wednesday sales, we’re seeing between 800 and 1000 lambs and somewhere between 200 and 300 ewes forward each week. Prime lambs are averaging around 20p per kilo ahead of last year, ewes have continued to be a serious trade over the last 18 months and they continue to regularly sell between £150 and £160 per head.

 

In the sheep sector there is a diverse range of markets supplying both UK and export and that results in a broad spectrum of buyers, all of which help keep demand strong.

 

Looking ahead to St Boswells, we’ve got our big breeding sheep sales coming up, with around 8,000 sheep expected to go under the hammer on September 4th. On the same date, this sale will be followed by what is renowned as a very good store section which will include about 2,000 store lambs put forward by Robert and Becca Rennie of Attonburn and Andrew Elliott of Blackhaugh. This has been a cracking sale in recent years.

 

Last year, the Scotch Mule ewe lambs and half-breeds were slightly harder to shift compared to everything else – purely down to supply and demand. There are fewer people wanting them in the Scottish Borders, and a few buyers who travelled up for different lots didn’t go for them.

 

Currently there aren’t masses of breeding sheep available, so I think breeding sheep will continue to sell well. We had a decent spring run of hoggs, and when surplus ewe lambs go out of the system instead of becoming gimmers, it helps keep the standard and quality high. If that trend continues, it should feed into a strong trade for the breeding sales, as the stock will be right.

 

On the cattle side, Wooler gets a very good show of store cattle and has strong support from regular buyers. The sales are usually very good and I’d expect the same this year. We generally hold them on a Tuesday – usually at the start of the month – and, if demand’s there, we’ll hold another sale later in the month too. At our bigger sales, we can see between 500 and 600 head of cattle coming through the ring.

 

St Boswells holds fortnightly sales and in early October we’ll host our annual Native Day and Continental Day. The Continental sale usually sees between 700 and 800 head, while the Native Day – which includes Angus and Herefords – typically sees between 1,100 and 1,200 head of cattle forward. The sale is supported by Morrisons supermarket and the Beef Shorthorn Society. Morrisons choose this speciality range of Shorthorn beef to be sold in a selection of their stores.

 

Here at both Wooler and St Boswell we attract buyers to our sales from across Yorkshire the North of England and further afield, I would like, on behalf of Harrison & Hetherington, to thank them for their support, and I am sure everyone will agree, with our breeding sales being just over a month away we could really do with a bit of grass in the next six weeks!