Recent weeks have seen prime sheep prices on the rise again and with rising prices the demand for quality lambs has shot up again, resulting in healthy premiums being paid for Texel-sired entries.
At Newark on Saturday (4 January) Texel crosses peaked both the per head and p/kg prices, led on a headage basis at £130/head for 53kg entries.
In the p/kg stakes Texels occupied all the top 10 spots, hitting a high of 286p/kg for 45kg hoggets.
Further north at Skipton on Monday, Craven Cattle Market’s monthly primestock show was led by a pen of Texel crosses which took the championship and then went on to sell for the day’s top price of £130/head (317.1p/kg).
And, on the same day Texel crosses led the trade at Lanark, where the top call of £128/head was once again paid for Texel cross lambs, with these lambs trading at 297p/kg.
Carlisle also saw Texels on top, leading the p/kg rankings at 303p/kg for 38.5kg entries.
Society chief executive John Yates said the premium prices being achieved by Texel-sired stock were just one of many reasons commercial producers continued to back the breed.
“It was evident at last autumn’s ram sales that commercial farmers are rightly continuing to place their faith in the breed and the returns being achieved by Texel primestock are a clear justification of their decisions,” he added.
