WHILE Hexham Mart doesn't see evidence of the almost year-round trade in lamb being talked about down south, it does bear witness to the fact farmers here are increasingly savvy about the best time to sell.

Festivals, and particularly Muslim festivals, are becoming hot spots in the year, said managing director Robert Addison.

"Further south, with different breeds, there may have been a move towards later lambing, but we don't really see signs of that here," he said.

"But what we are seeing are spikes in prices on the run up to Muslim festivals - the Muslim community seems to eat a fair bit of lamb and farmers are more mindful of them when once upon a time they weren't."

In some cases, farmers were choosing to keep their stock those extra few weeks or months to tie in with the next festival.

He said: "They are definitely more focused on margins that are that little bit tighter, so they have to produce as much as they can and sell it in the best way possible."

This long hot summer, marts nationwide have been reporting a lack of interest in lean ewes from the fattening buyers, due to the drought-induced paucity of grass and forage.

But a disappointing trade in July was counterbalanced in August by the demand for lamb for the Eid al-Adha and Qurbani festivals. The price of lambs commonly jumped by five to 10p a kilo.

As for this week - Love Lamb week - consumers are being encouraged to slam lamb in their freezers.

Buy your supplies now and enjoy it all winter long, says National Sheep Association chief executive Phil Stocker. "The support for Love Lamb week has grown year on year since it was started as a social media campaign by (Blanchland) sheep farmer Rachel Lumley in 2015.

"As well as encouraging consumers to eat more lamb, NSA believes educating them to understand its availability is crucial."

Tradition had conditioned the nation to buy lamb at Easter and during the spring in general, so many shoppers were probably unaware that the volume and availability of British lamb increased towards the autumn.

"With Love Lamb week landing in the first week of September, it's a perfect time for our industry to remind people to enjoy lamb year round," he said.