Weekly sales commence in Ayr every Monday with PRIME SHEEP at 10.30am. A growing centre for sheep, Ayr averaged 2070 lambs and 557 ewes per week during 2002, and on a particularly busy day numbers peaked with 3787 lambs and 1013 ewes being presented.

Sales are attended by local wholesalers and representatives of all the major slaughtering facilities with a large percentage of stock heading to Wales and the South of England. Regular consignments are also exported to Ireland. Lairage facilities are on offer, both housed and paddock, for the regular consignments from the Western Isles.

Lambs are presented in the 30-55kg weight range weekly, with the majority of these until Christmas being Texel and Suffolk bred, and then from January to April good strong Blackface Hoggets come forward in large numbers.

Annual feature sales are our Show and Sale of Texel Prime Lambs in August, and our keenly supported Christmas Show. Our butcher clients are highly supportive and many of our PRIZE TICKETS grace the Christmas windows of local buthchers.

Tuesday is a “mercat day” in Ayr with PRIME CATTLE sales commencing at 11am. Numbers are smaller now than those seen before the foot and mouth outbreak. This is interestingly a National trend with Marts from the North of Scotland to the South Coast of England experiencing similar declines in throughput. It is our view that selling Prime Cattle by Auction is still most viable and we will always foster the principal.

In Craig Wilson’s first year of operation 8388 Prime Cattle were marketed and Ayr remains one of the largest prime cattle centres in Scotland. An enlarged butcher clientel resulting from the formation of our new company certainly enhances returns to sellers. As with all classes of stock sold at Auction, the Prime Cattle operation has great transparency. The weighing of the cattle, the handling of the animals and even the bidding process is there to be seen. In the Abattoir all moves are behind closed doors especially so nowadays after so many health scares.

As with the finished sheep, the year culminates in our Christmas Show, which annually produces a spectacular array of butchers cattle and is keenly supported by finishers, butchers, wholesalers and all interested in livestock production in Southern Scotland.

Continuing the bovine theme, every week in a separate auction ring we commence proceedings, with a sale of CALVES, DAIRY CATTLE and STIRKS. Special sales of FRIESIAN and AYRSHIRE Dairy Cattle feature on a regular basis throughout the year.

On the first Tuesday of every month, after the normal weekly sale we have a sale of BEEF BREEDING Cattle, commencing with cows and heifers with calves, in-calf cows and heifers, bulling heifers and bulls. These sales have created tremendous interest over the past year, and visitors are advised to arrive early to secure a good vantage point.

Rounding up our regular market day activity we collect large numbers of OTMS cattle in Ayr, processing liveweight or deadweight, as customers demand. A dedicated team check all the animals to ensure the paperwork collates with the animals ear tags. If a tag is found to be missing or damaged, we offer a 24 hour replacement service.
Another major contribution to the activity in Ayr, is the fortnightly and seasonal sales of STORE CATTLE, STORE and BREEDING SHEEP.

STORE CATTLE sales, held fortnightly on a Thursday, continue to expand in numbers (nearly 16,000 last year) and interest generated. With such a wide catchment area to the south, north and east of the site, a wide selection of types are regularly on offer to buyers, who will travel from as far as Aberdeen and the Midlands, to satisfy their requirements. All cattle consigned can be drawn into lots by our staff or to individuals instructions. Cattle movements are automatically recorded for both vendors and purchasers via our computerised auction sale system, and we are happy to arrange haulage to all parts of the country.

STORE and BREEDING sheep sales, are of course seasonal and our store lambs sales are weekly every Thursday from the third week in August through to November, then fortnightly after that. The season begins with Mule Female Breeding Sheep in August followed by Blackface Ewe Lamb sales in September, and our annual Tup Fair on the second Saturday in September.

With the recent firming of prices in the finished market, store and breeding sheep are keenly sought, Ayr presented more than 31,000 head last year, with our largest single day seeing 6316 being sold.