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Another year has flown by and it’s report time again. There were plenty of lambs at lambing and it was a better summer than last year, but it’s all change with the SFP system. How will this affect the mule gimmer lamb trade, was the question everyone was asking. My Gut feeling was the money would get less as back end went on. Harry Gillies and I had a great day in the Lancaster area visiting a dozen farms and received good hospitality. We got a little bit lost going to the first farm and ended up in the wrong yard. A lady greeted us in her nightie and put us in the right direction but on leaving she did announce that she could do with some company (good job Bruce wasn’t with us!). On our visit we saw a lot of good Swaledale ewes and Mule lambs, which were a credit and all of farmers have since joined the association. Kendal Branch attended the North Devon, Honiton, Camelford and Okehampton Shows on our annual PR Trip. We travelled down with Jeff Burrow, but satellite navigation was a piece of technology too far, taking us from A to B through every narrow lane in Devon (stick to breeding mule lambs Jeff!) We met many regular customers at the shows and also gained a few new ones, who intended to travel to buy their own lambs and seize the opportunity of having a holiday in the Lakes. They were prepared to pay last year’s prices plus a bit more which was very encouraging. Kendal NEMSA Sale this year was on Saturday 10th September and there was a large and impressive show of lambs. The judging was left in the very capable hands of Robert Partridge and Michael Webster who made the following awards:
There were 7355 lambs sold on the day, an average of £55.34, which was -£9 on 2004. Running lambs were less money this year. Finally may I take this opportunity of thanking all our sponsors and North West Auction Ltd and their staff who assisted on the day. ANDREW SUTTON |
