Slow start for spring lambs - farmers weekly


Play all audios:

26 APRIL 2002 ------------------------- SLOW START FOR SPRING LAMBS SPRING lamb numbers are starting to build, but a lacklustre early trade is disappointing early lamb finishers hoping for


big premiums. Last weeks standard quality quotation for spring lambs saw prices level at 275p/kg, giving producers a modest premium of 55p/kg over hoggets, but leaving them short of the


elusive 300p/kg mark that they would have wanted. A decline in exports, due to a downturn in demand from French traders, and reports of more hoggets available than predicted, is pegging


prices back for both old and new season lambs. Peter Crichton, of Hill Farm Sheep, hopes the big supermarkets will switch to new season supplies soon and put a base in the market, with the


SQQ stabilising around 125-130p/kg (265-276p/kg dw). This makes a 40kg lamb worth £50-52, just enough to give sheep farmers a reasonable return, although prices would not want to fall any


lower, he suggests. But it seems that most stores are not ready to swap supplies yet, apart from Sainsbury, which has been stocking new season lamb nationwide since the third week of March.


Spring lambs will be in ASDA stores from mid May and in Safeway from May 20. Meanwhile, Safeway launched a new English lamb range on St Georges day to complement its regional Northumbrian


and West Country lamb lines. &#42