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All articles about Taking Stock

Market trends and prices analysis from the major commercial and pedigree sheep and cattle livestock rings, including Kelso tup sales, Stirling bull sales and the Thame Sheep fair. Keep abreast of the trade in cull ewes, barren cows, dairy cows, prime beef and lamb and store lamb and cattle.

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TAKING STOCK

Thame Mules stand on at £171 despite drought

Breeding ewe prices at Thame Sheep Fair were only marginally down on last year’s record values, despite drought-like conditions in the south-east of England. The annual event, held last week…

TAKING STOCK

Farmer Focus: Wetter winters mean housing more sheep

It feels like not an awful lot has changed since my previous article. The monotonous tasks of winter feeding and bedding seems to consume most of the daily routine here,…

TAKING STOCK

60 years of livestock markets and how they’ve changed

Taking Stock looks over the seismic changes in the livestock sector through the lens of the UK’s livestock marts over the past 60 years. Over the past 60 years, there…

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Insights

SHEEP

Why "breed snobbery" could challenge liveweight sales

A desire to change the system, lower the cost base and move towards self-replacing maternal genetics has left some businesses in the cold when selling liveweight, Farmers Weekly has heard.…

TAKING STOCK

A look round the world’s biggest cattle market

A typical weekly entry of 6,000-10,000-head of calves and store cattle means operations must run like clockwork at Oklahoma National Stockyards (ONS). Located in the Stockyards City district – the…

MEAT MARKETS AND PRICES

Analysis: How livestock auctions fit in today's meat markets

There is a certain nostalgia associated with trading livestock at a live mart – it is, after all, a system that has operated well for more than 200 years. But…

TAKING STOCK

Beef and lamb markets: Will record-breaking prices continue?

Farming has become much more expensive in the past 12 months, but will record-breaking prices continue to cover across-the-board inflation? Rising input costs resulted from a hike in fuel prices,…

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News

MEAT MARKETS AND PRICES

Store cattle move to £3/kg and tipped to go dearer

Nervous cattle finishers paying £3/kg liveweight for short-term stores may have to dig deeper through the year to keep yards full. Latest industry insight from both sides of the Irish…

MEAT MARKETS AND PRICES

Dearer sows offer way out with 230p/kg costs

Many pig farmers still posting losses despite a record-breaking pig price could see a sow price of £150-£160 as a chance to finally call it quits. A best-ever SPP of…

TAKING STOCK

Stirling: Simms £425 dearer and Charolais average £8k

Commercial suckler farmers helped drive a strong trade at Stirling this week (20 February), encouraged by strong beef prices and store cattle 15% dearer than a year ago. A string…

TAKING STOCK

NFU backs Hailsham mart's planned move out of town centre

The NFU is backing the relocation of the historic Hailsham livestock market, in East Sussex, from its current town centre position to a new out-of-town site. South East Marts Ltd has submitted…

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Video

LIVESTOCK

Video: Stirling bull sales brings more records

Over 8,000 visitors flocked to Stirling to see this year’s Stirling bull sales where records were set and elite genetics once again found new commercial and pedigree homes. Several new…

DAIRY

Video: All the action at UK Dairy Day

The UK Dairy Day was busier than ever this year. The event, held at Telford International Centre on Wednesday 13 September, attracted 8,422 visitors. And with 310 trade stands, 83 cattle…

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