GENERAL
The effects of foot and mouth on the market system as a whole cannot be over emphasised. It seems a long way a way now but the fact remains that it is less than 2 years ago that the markets were forced to use the collection centre system in order to do any business at all. 2002 saw a return to something like normality and 2003 has followed in that footstep. New regulations still mean that the six-day rule is with us and a market gathering is restricted to 48 hours with that time period starting at 12 mid day before the day of sale. Such artificial restrictions on business are obviously difficult to deal with and about the only plus to have come out of recent changes has been the ability to sell TB restricted cattle through slaughter markets. Every week we sell a considerable number of such cattle and at least have the chance to retain our links with those increasing numbers of farmers, who are being affected by TB. The total number of livestock sold in 2003 in fact represents 93½% of the amount sold in 2000 (the year before foot and mouth) although obviously there has been a different emphasis with some sections being more adversely affected than others.

FINISHED CATTLE – 19,305 (371 PER WEEK)
Increased numbers, increased buyers and a better feel to the job has been the picture for 2003 with the year ending on a high point. Some of the trades experienced over Christmas were beyond belief. Buyers had to have cattle and were prepared to pay for them. The market system showed its benefits in the setting of prices throughout the country. Increased bull numbers have resulted in increased buying support and again we have buyers for all sorts of cattle from the poorest bulls to the best bulls to the smallest heifers to the largest, to handy weight steers, to large steers. There have been no price penalties and plenty of competition for all sorts of cattle including FABBL and non-FABBL and including bulls that are over 16 months. We hope to be able to continue to build the fat cattle market back to what it was pre foot and mouth and 2003 has been a major step in that direction.

FINISHED SHEEP – 136,315 (2,621 PER WEEK)
This has probably been the most encouraging section in the market this year. Good numbers of sheep right the way through from the earliest sales to December. Plenty of buyers in attendance. Competition for small lambs, big lambs, fat lambs, thin lambs. The market has not been affected by the slaughter status and with the use of our field officer service very few lambs have been presented which have been rejects. Please make use of this service especially with the slaughter market where the penalties for having too thin sheep in particular can be drastic.

The killing ewe section has gone from strength to strength and there have been several occasions this year when we have penned just over or close to 1,000 ewes. Again there has been competition for the smallest to the biggest ewe and ewes have been travelling a long way to come to Ludlow.

STORE CATTLE – 11,426 (423 PER SPECIAL)
Some very good sales have been held this year with buyers attending from all over the country. Almost more pleasing than this has been the variety of cattle sold and the competition for all classes. We’ve had extreme dairy cattle at one end of the spectrum to the very best suckler bred cattle at the other, but there has been competition for all of them. The bull section, every sale has been well supported and on one occasion there were over 300 bulls in this part of the store market. The breeding sales have also attracted much interest with good entries of cows and calves and a nice trade on the young breeding bulls we have had this year. The store sales have had a really good feel to them and the ring has been packed on many occasions.

STORE SHEEP – 44,996 (1,666 PER SPECIAL)
Another success story. Despite the very large numbers of fat lambs and the fact that farmers were selling many of the lambs in the fat ring as soon as they could because of the drought this year, the numbers of store lambs in the autumn has been very encouraging and there has been a trade to match, no end of buyers in attendance.

As regards the breeding ewes these were short in number. A good killing trade in the early part of the year meant that there were very few old ewes on offer for breeding purposes and several of the less desirable ewe hoggs had also been slaughtered. Those breeding ewes we had were well sold especially at the main sales in August.

As regards crossing rams, ram Monday was an excellent sale again with a market full of tups and a crowd of men to paw over them. The store sheep market is an essential part of Ludlow’s future and its continued development will be pushed to its limits.

CALVES – 535 (20 PER SPECIAL)
It has still been difficult to get the calf market really going, but the autumn saw a dramatic improvement. The fact that the calves are now sold once a fortnight because of the slaughter market status of Monday markets has meant that it has been difficult to attract regular supplies of calves and regular purchasers. By fixing the time for the calves at 11.45 am on a store day then they have been given their slot and we have at last got the calves to 40 to 50 calves per special. The trade has been second to none. Those vendors who have been regularly bringing calves and in some cases holding them for over a week in order to bring them to the fortnightly sale have been well pleased. The calf market is again an essential element in Ludlow’s makeup. We have always prided ourselves on being able to sell all classes of stock and to have a viable calf market is essential to the store sale and essential to the well being of the market as an entity.

CULLS – 1,394 (27 PER WEEK)
The OTMS scheme still continues and looks as though it will still continue even when cows come into the food chain, as there will be restrictions on the age of those accepted for human consumption. We have already received a number of enquires from firms looking to start to kill cows once they enter the food chain, and we look forward to the challenge whether it be this year or the year after when we can pit our wits against other markets and the deadweight and offer real competition and a real service for the cows once again.

CONCLUSION
In previous reports the foot and mouth epidemic was likened to a cow going down with milk fever. That cow being Ludlow market. In 2002 we got the cow to her feet again and she started to get better. 2003 has seen an improvement in her general well being, the sun has shone and she has grazed well, time will put her right as will care and attention to her needs. As Tom Draper the famous trainer of Arcle once said when the racehorse was injured, “all he needs is time and the good Lord gave us plenty of it”. This is the attitude we must have to re-building Ludlow Market. It is a living entity and with effort and knowledge we will revive it to its former levels. On the 2nd January 2004 I will have been at Ludlow 23 years. The first Monday saw 7 fat cattle in the yard and 40 lambs. From that starting point foot and mouth seems as nothing.

A happy New Year and a peaceful one to all our clients.

John Uffold
Chairman