MCCARTNEYS report a good entry of 2,100 sheep and 13,000 hoggets selling to an excellent trade.

Well-bred and meated hoggets between 40 and 55kg would be at market premiums and hoggets in all weight ranges would be in good demand. All hoggets forward averaged 1.85ppk with a top of 205ppk. Hoggets sold to a top of £97 per head.

A very good entry of 600 spring lambs with all lambs selling to an excellent trade which would be up on the previous day’s trading, with all lambs averaging 2.23ppk up to 242ppk. Top price lambs made £97.50 per head.

Some 42kg hoggets from W J & B E Croose made £82, 43kg hoggets from J T Jones & Sons £86.50, 46kg hoggets from J P Sevenoaks & Sons made £88, 48kg hoggets from J T Jones & Sons made £90.50, 54kg hoggets from O D LLoyd made £97, 55kg hoggets from A Layton made £96, hoggets with teeth up averaged £69 Some 38kg lambs from S R Morgan & Son made £90, 39kg lambs from G A Morgan made £88, 40kg lambs from G & J Probert made £89, 41kg lambs from R B & D M Read made £92.80, 43kg lambs from G & J Probert made £95, 44kg lambs from M H Price made £93.50, and 45kg lambs from R B & D M Read made £ 97.50.

There was a smaller entry of 200 cull ewes selling to a dearer trade which has risen over the past weeks. Well meated and strong ewes were selling to market premiums. The ewes sold to a top of £115 and to average £72.80 per ewe. Tups sold to £85.50 and to average £60, wethers sold to £60 and to average £45. The cull ewes included a proportion of thinner mule ewes and hill ewes.

Kington Market, Tuesday, May 5 McCartneys of Kington report another excellent store cattle trade with a good entry of quality store cattle together with 80 heifers and cows with calves at foot and in-calf cows.

The cows and calves were extremely sought after by a packed ring with cows and calves reaching £2,000 per couple.

The trade on the store cattle was excellent and had remained level over recent weeks.

The store cattle on offer on the day were of good quality with cattle reaching £950 per head.

All cattle forward met with an excellent trade with the majority of cattle achieving sale prices between £800 and £950 per head. Well-bred cattle were at market premiums.

Prices were as follows: ■ Top price paid for cattle on the day was £950 for some Charolais x steers from A E Hope & Son ■ Steers averaged £1.80 per kg with a top of £2.15 per kg for some Charolais x steers from S O & J O Alman ■ Heifers averaged £1.68 per kg with a top of £1.92 per kg for some Limousin x heifers from B J Layton ■ All steers forward at the sale averaged £806 per head with a top of £950 per head.

■ All heifers forward at the sale averaged £721 per head with a top of £805 per head ■ Heifers with bull calves at foot averaged £1,580 per couple with a top of £1,850 from B J Layton & Co ■ Heifers with heifer calves at foot averaged £1,500 per couple with a top of £2,000 from B J Layton & Co ■ Cows with bull calves at foot averaged £1,420 per couple with a top of £1,500 from R P Tilt & Son ■ Cows with heifer calves at foot averaged £1,400 per couple with a top of £1,450 from R P Tilt & Son ■ In-calf heifers averaged £1,250 with a top of £1,300 from B J Layton & Co ■ In-calf cows averaged £1,100 with a top of £1,320 from B J Layton & Co For details of the sale on Tuesday, June 2, call 01544 230316.