Week by week we seem to be passing another milestone on the long road back to normality - and Tuesday saw the first auction sale of fat cattle in the Malton ring for nearly 14 months.

There was a great atmosphere with a healthy collection of buyers who have supported us over the past 12 months and seem genuinely interested in making the auction system work.

There was a total entry of 62 cattle split between bulls and clean and trade was comparable with the deadweight.

A big thank you to buyers and farmers for getting the business under way again, which is so vital to Ryedale's economy.

Best prices for the day were as follows:

Young Bulls - Roland Mason, 110p/kilo

Steers - T Spence, 105p/k

Heifers - Roland Mason, 114p/k

Heavy heifers - E Fussey & Son, 110p/k

Next week, we will be providing the same auction service on Tuesday and start selling at 10am.

Please make sure you enter your cattle and arrive in good time as we have to process all the documentation.

Another pain is the insistence by MHS officials that all cattle arrive at the abattoir with two tags. I do think they have lost the plot and forgotten that the original purpose of putting two tags in was to ensure that at least one survived for identification purposes.

They have now changed the rules in that they demand two tags to be present at the point of slaughter. How on earth that makes the animal any more certain in its identity than if it had one tag, I will never know.

Nevertheless, forewarned is a little forearmed and you do need to be mindful of the two-tag necessity.

A staggering 2,850 sheep turned up at the market and stretched the available pennage to its limits.

I am afraid quite a number that came were un-entered and this does present us with enormous problems when we are restricted with pens.

Nevertheless, it was a pleasure to see such a show in the town again and the whole place buzzing with activity.

The 101 spring lambs dipped slightly to average 125p/kilo and up to a top of 141/kilo for a splendid pen of springers produced by J & J Coleman.

The hoggs were slightly more variable in quality than last week but there was an overall average of 101p/kilo and prices were up to £59.50 for some strong sheep from T Bannister & Son. Top price for light hoggs was 117p/kilo from A N Burgess.

We had 570 cull ewes and rams in the old pig market and they were a flying trade with Richard Bulmer achieving an amazing £90 to top the day. In some ways, the average price was even more astonishing at over £64/head.

The whole day was a great success and can only lead to getting a live auction more firmly established again.

- Please, please remember to enter your sheep with us before you come next Tuesday.

I am afraid, what with stocktaking valuations and IACS, it is not my time of year for writing a lengthy treatise in this column. I apologise but here are a few items of note from the week.

- New Rules on Sheep Tagging & Movement: All sheep farmers should by now have received the latest 21-page booklet from DEFRA on the new regulations regarding tagging and movement. I fully expect every flock owner to have read and understood the document as DEFRA may well be introducing spot telephone calls to test us!

Basically, if sheep move off the farm they have to be tagged and, wherever you move them to, you need to fill out a movement document. The whole process seems pretty painful and it isn't clear as to how many tags a sheep may end up trying to carry. Perhaps we shall have to breed animals with more ears in future!

- EU Transport Mania: We seem to be increasingly burdened with bureaucrats inexperienced in our industry and yet quite prepared to publicise their often ill-informed views.

My latest bte noir is the scientific committee that is advising the EU on animal transport.

To ensure a proper level of protection for the animals, these scientists are recommending specific space allowances including increased heights of decks and maximum travelling times.

We already have a plethora of such restrictions which make life more and more difficult for the livestock haulier who, I might add, is rapidly becoming a rare species.

How on earth can these scientists generalise on space allowances for cattle when a week-old calf is going to occupy considerably less room than a ten-year-old cow? I would have liked to see each member of the committee drive a livestock wagon for six months before making a report that will affect us all.

- Countryside March: I see that the Countryside Alliance has flagged up the possibility of calling a mass Countryside March at short notice.

The organisation has recalled its team that was sorting out arrangements for the Liberty and Livelihood March last year which was cancelled due to FMD.

The alliance wants the consultation process to do with hunting to be carried out in public and not behind closed doors.

- Farmers' Markets Threatened: A warning has gone out that Farmers' Markets could be outlawed if the World Trade Organisation retains its control over agriculture.

Because Farmers' Markets specify who can sell at them, they could be interpreted under WTO rules as "protectionist measures", put in place to keep out imports. How right they are!

It seems a little far-fetched but one never knows what is round the next rural corner.

- OTMS Rate: The OTMS rate for April has been announced at 49p/live kg for cows and 55.2p for other cattle.

The remainder of our marketing service is still operating - so if you have stock that you cannot bring to market, please let us know. There will be an OTMS collection next week and there are spots available if needed.

Currently, the deadweight trade is holding reasonably steady but with the odd flutter.

'R' grade cattle have dropped to 165p in some places but there are still others where one can obtain 170-172p so do give us a ring.

Breaking-up cattle are competing with volumes of imported meat from Africa, Argentina and even Holland; with the consequence that quite a lot of the bottom end cattle can only command around 140-150p/kilo.

Hogg prices have eased a little with a slight down turn in the export market and trade is running from 205-225p/kilo, dependent on the maximum weight.

Ewes have not caught up with the liveweight trade and are hovering around the 150p/kilo mark.

Pigs are pretty steady at 100-108p for bacon pigs with the gilts making a few pennies more.

Anyone wanting further information please contact the helplines at Malton on (01653) 697820/692151 and York on (01904) 489731

Updated: 09:32 Thursday, April 11, 2002