Breeding Ewe Trade is Up, Up and Away!
June 2024
The sheep trade has been hitting unprecedented levels for months, with lambs, hoggs and cull ewes all making a sizeable premium over and above that which have been achieved in even the most buoyant of previous years. With many ewe lambs ear-marked for the summer breeding ewe sales being snapped up by the meat trade at Easter, it is widely anticipated that there will be a serious shortage of breeding stock on offer in the immediate future which will only drive prices to upwards.
The early breeding ewe sale at Sedgemoor Auction Centre yielded excellent results with no less than half the entry achieving in excess of £230 a piece, topping at £265 for Dorset Mules from regular consigners MA Johnson Ltd. The early sale is often seen as the ‘warm-up’ to our annual breeding ewes sale in July, which would regularly have entries in the region of 3,500-5,000 breeding ewes, however with so many regular vendors suggesting they ‘have half what they usually have’ or ‘have sold all of mine at Easter’, it would suggest that numbers will be fewer and further between. Whilst purchasers might be hesitant to part with more money than they ever have before for their breeding replacements, it might be a situation this summer where there is little option, with numbers entered in to sales being rather scant.
Any sheep farmers with breeding ewes to sell this season are urged to make contact to ensure this trade can be taken full advantage of.
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Article written by Tom Mellor, Sheep Auctioneer at Sedgemoor Auction Centre, Partner of Greenslade Taylor Hunt
The early breeding ewe sale at Sedgemoor Auction Centre yielded excellent results with no less than half the entry achieving in excess of £230 a piece, topping at £265 for Dorset Mules from regular consigners MA Johnson Ltd. The early sale is often seen as the ‘warm-up’ to our annual breeding ewes sale in July, which would regularly have entries in the region of 3,500-5,000 breeding ewes, however with so many regular vendors suggesting they ‘have half what they usually have’ or ‘have sold all of mine at Easter’, it would suggest that numbers will be fewer and further between. Whilst purchasers might be hesitant to part with more money than they ever have before for their breeding replacements, it might be a situation this summer where there is little option, with numbers entered in to sales being rather scant.
Any sheep farmers with breeding ewes to sell this season are urged to make contact to ensure this trade can be taken full advantage of.
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Article written by Tom Mellor, Sheep Auctioneer at Sedgemoor Auction Centre, Partner of Greenslade Taylor Hunt