Focus on weight and condition to secure best hogget prices

Following last year’s lacklustre demand for prime lamb, this season’s hogget trading has wasted no time in creating controversy over the thorny issue of weight.

While finishers are being encouraged to produce well-meated 42-44kg hoggets, there is no doubt some are favouring the “weight pays” approach and believe extra kilos are the only way to make a margin out of this season’s market.

With little profit earned from selling prime sheep last year – and facing the effects an early Easter may have on the latter part of the hogget-selling season – many finishers are reluctant to disclose too many details about their marketing plans.

Following a surge in the number of prime lambs sold in the run-up to Christmas, auctioneers say a lot of large-scale finishers have delayed restocking with hoggets.

But with predictions of margins as low as £6 a head, sheep advisers are urging finishers to budget their enterprises carefully and to follow a strict marketing plan to try to earn the best returns from the market over the next few months.

Advice for finishing hoggets

With no anticipated significant rise in finished sheep values in the first part of this year – and with the adverse effects of the continuing wet weather on outwintered stock – this is going to be a hogget-selling season with little room for error, says AHDB sheep scientist Liz Genever.

Finishers need to closely monitor body condition levels to ensure hoggets are sold at the correct weight and not allowed to get too heavy, she says.

“We are moving into a hogget-finishing season where it has never been more critical to really keep on top of how hoggets are selected – and it’s all about being aware of weight and condition.

“There is always the expectation among finishers that hogget prices will improve as the season progresses and that holding on to sell later will leave the biggest profit – but that is not the case,” says Dr Genever.

See also: How to make money from finishing store lambs

Because the hogget market is traditionally difficult to predict, the AHDB is advising finishers to sell hoggets when they reach the market specification rather than retain them in the hope that extra kilos will leave a bigger margin.

And finishers with hoggets on fodder crops should be equally strict about selection as those with sheep on faster-finish and indoor systems.

“Even finishers with fodder crops who take their sheep through into the spring are urged to be strict about their selection and marketing this year and to not just assume hoggets are ticking over and can be drawn later.”

The AHDB is advising finishers on all hogget systems to handle sheep regularly to make sure they can quickly identify any that may be getting too fat.

And for those with hoggets already on farm, as well as finishers about to start buying, the AHDB message is clear – have a marketing plan.

“Finishers need to be aware of the specification they are aiming for, how long their hoggets will take to achieve it and the finishing costs a head,” says Dr Genever.

© Tim Scrivener

See also: What to consider when finishing lambs for the early market

Effect of the weather

But this year’s bad weather has added further pressure to outwintered sheep systems.

Finishers facing ground conditions that have become too waterlogged and where grass or fodder crop intakes have been affected are being forced to bring sheep inside – but care must be taken over diet-changeovers, adds Dr Genever.

“Great care must be taken where hoggets on grass or fodder crops and close to finishing have to be brought inside and switched on to a different diet.

“It will have an immediate effect on their growth, so any diet changes must be made very slowly – over two to three weeks – and there is also a risk of losses from barley poisoning,” adds Dr Genever.

Auctioneers’ advice

Hogget finishers can improve their margins by ensuring they have “well-meated” sheep to sell and by taking time to evenly draw and pen their lambs for sale at auction, say auctioneers.

Cumbria auctioneer Mark Richardson says it is clear from the response of buyers that lambs that have been evenly drawn earn better prices.

“Trying to sell mixed pens of hoggets ranging from 42-50kg in the hope they will benefit from the overall average weight doesn’t work.

“Buyers are getting a lot more savvy and are moving through the pens before a sale and getting their hands on sheep.

“At a recent sale we had a run of really evenly drawn good-meated hoggets weighing 40kg that may not have been top quality, but the buyers responded and they averaged £71. It just proved the point about selling level in even batches,” says Mr Richardson of Harrison and Hetherington.

The new year finished sheep trade has started off more positively than many predicted, with markets seeing a stronger-than-expected demand for heavyweight hoggets.

“The early January trade was a bit sharper with heavyweights up to £1.60-£1.70/kg and earning up to almost £90 a head. But many more sheep were sold in the run-up to Christmas, so finishers should not read too much into this for the longer term.”

Tom Wrench of Rugby Farmers Mart believes there is going to be “an abundance” of heavier hoggets hitting the market this spring as finishers chase top weights.

“But the best prices will be for the export-grade hoggets, although I don’t think we are going to see much of an increase in overall returns. I would certainly rather be selling 43kg hoggets that grade well; the difference in price a kilo will overtake the extra costs of production compared with the heavier types,” he predicts.

Case study: Andrew Foulds, Norfolk

‘Keep in regular touch with the abattoir’

Norfolk farmer Andrew Foulds, who finishes about 20,000 store lambs a year on a range of fodder crops, says hogget margins are constantly under pressure from rising costs.

“The costs of these hoggets can’t be underestimated – they are phenomenal. Haulage, labour and feed costs all take an increasing slice out of any profit.

“It means we have to be very strict and efficient in the way we finish hoggets and draw them, and ensure we keep in regular contact with the abattoir throughout the season to make sure we are producing what is wanted,” says Mr Foulds.

A wide range of store lambs – both long- and short-term keep – are bought for finishing right through from August until springtime. Some lambs can be in the system for six weeks; others up to four months.

“Our aim is to produce 44-45kg hoggets that kill out well and with the correct level of finish. It can mean putting up to 15kg on some of them, but hogget finishing is a big gamble. When we buy lambs to finish we have no idea what the end price is going to be.

“We have to try to keep costs to a minimum to earn a margin, but keeping in regular touch with the abattoir is essential,” says Mr Foulds, whose average buying-in price for stores has been about £50 this year.

He wants hoggets to be appreciating in value at £1.50/week, but he describes his system’s approach to drawing lambs for sale as “very strict indeed”.

“We are regularly selling up to 1,500 hoggets a week and every one is handled individually and weighed before it leaves the farm.”