The lamb market looks to have steadied in recent days, as abattoirs are quoting £4.40/kg for an R grade lamb and the live market paying over £2/kg at some sales.

However, numbers being sold have tumbled after the dramatic decline in prices after the UK COVID-19 lockdown was announced three weeks ago.

The beef market is edging down, with most abattoirs paying between £3.37/kg and £3.44/kg for an R grade continental steer. This is a fall of 10p/kg for some of the higher-paying slaughterhouses.

The official AHDB price didn’t change and still sits at £3.51/kg for an R4L steer in Scotland for the week ending 4 April.

R4L grade heifers didn’t change in price either, with the AHDB reporting an R4L continental heifer at £3.52/kg, with same-grade young bulls down 5p to £3.30/kg.

Cows grading O-4L fell sharply by 20p/kg to £2.38/kg as the service sector shutdown reduces cow beef demand.

The number of store cattle through the live ring was up over 3,000 to 7,467 last week, with some marts running online bidding.

Aberdeen Northern Marts sold the most cattle, with 2,071 through their rings at an average of £947/head. The national average was £905/head, up £31/head on the previous week.

The AHDB is quoting the lamb price until the end of last week at £4.40/kg for an R grade lamb, which is a fall of 79p/kg. Scottish abattoirs look to be paying around £4.40/kg for lambs as the price has steadied.

Finished sheep in the live ring were trading at £1.99/kg for medium-weight lambs, which is up 14p/kg.

Heavier lambs have followed a similar pattern, with prices up 14p/kg as well to an average of £1.93/kg.

In total, 8,024 lambs were sold through the prime live ring, more than double the previous week. Over 1,100 ewes were sold last week, which is a similar number to the previous week.

The average rose £19/head to an average price of £68/head.