Here in the heart of Wensleydale in the market town of Hawes the month of September is usually one of the busiest times, with hundreds of buyers and sellers around. The pubs and B&Bs are usually full, but it's not property they've come to look at – it's sheep.

Hawes becomes a woolly metropolis during the month as Andrew Pratt, chairman of Hawes Farmers Auction Mart explains: 'September is a crucial time for Dales sheep farmers. It is the time of year when the breeding sheep sales take place. This is their harvest, where they sell their crop of lambs for the year."

Lambs are sold as primestock – which end up on your plate – and as breeding sheep bought by other farmers to use as the mothers for the following year's lambs. "Every week we run a primestock sale where the predominance is of male lambs, but Hawes Auction Mart is renowned for its breeding sheep sales," adds Andrew, who farms just a mile from the mart and has a flock of 350 ewes.

Last year was different. The September sales didn't get going, because of the outbreaks of foot and mouth in the south of England, and when they did the prices were worse than disappointing. Some sheep had lost their condition – having been prepared in readiness for September.

It was an appalling outlook for the farmers. They were faced with additional feed and vets' costs. And grass – which they needed to free-up for the following year's breeding season – had been overworked by keeping that year's sheep on for longer. It put farmers close to the mood they had felt during the dark days of 2001.

"We were starting to become a bit like a Samaritans help-line must be," says Andrew. "Farmers were ringing just to have a chat. There was nothing
else they could do at the time. They rely so heavily on the breeding sales to pay their bills."

Following pressure on the Government to relax the movement restrictions, the sales eventually got going in mid-October. But a combination of unwieldy regulations and a huge glut of stock all coming on to the market at the same time led to depressed prices.

The regulations put off a lot of the buyers, many of whom travel from the south of England. The reason they do, and the reason the north of England is regarded as a "breeding sheep" area is because of their hardiness.

"What that means to farmers further south is that the ewes will be used to all weather conditions and at the same time provide quality lambs. We are really providing replacement breeding sheep for the rest of the country up here."

Last year has now, thankfully, been consigned to history and this year's sales are under way.

One took place this week and the next major sale is Monday, September 29, when over 15,000 sheep will be sold. These September sales are of Mules – a breed particular to North Yorkshire where a Swaledale ewe is crossed with a Blue Faced Leicester.

"The Mule is one of the mainstays for the UK breeding flock and our Mule ewes sold here go all over the country. This week alone
we have sold to Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Devon, Cornwall, Sussex and Oxfordshire," says Andrew.

And the good news is that prices are far better than last year – so far. Last year's breeding sheep averaged only £39 per ewe. This week the average was £59. But consider this. In the 1990s Andrew recalls a time when they averaged £65.

Add in today's increased prices of fuel, fertiliser, feed and home bills, plus the cost of living increase year on year for the past decade and it is easy to see why so many won't get carried away with even today's prices.

It is also easy to see just how bad a situation it was last year. "It just wasn't viable then," says Andrew. "But there has been a buzz this week and we are all looking forward to the sale a week on Monday."

The Hawes Farmers Auction Mart itself has been through considerable turmoil already. This rural outpost has tried its level best to compete and to generate better returns for its farmer members – 380 are shareholders in the mart.

Foot and Mouth in 2001 was a terrible blow for them and this was followed by what turned out to be an ill-fated journey into meat marketing which nearly killed off the mart completely a couple of years ago. They had branched out into a venture called Dales Quality Meat which failed. It went into liquidation with huge debts in March 2006.

"Prior to launching DQM we had substantial reserves," says Andrew. "We were encouraged, through government funding, to diversify but we couldn't compete with the big boys.

"We have always been a farmer-owned market and we are here to serve the best interests of our farmer members, but this was one occasion when a very good idea just didn't work."

However, the dire situation that ensued galvanised both the board of directors and shareholder members.

"We announced a new share rights issue in order to clear off the debts and there was a 100 per cent take-up from every shareholder. We now have some working capital again, and this year's better prices have led even the most hardened of Dales farmers to put a smile back on their face!"

When auctioneer Raymond Lund slams down his gavel a week on Monday it is to be hoped that smile remains.

Details of Hawes Farmers Auction Mart's Autumn sales: 01969 667207 or www.hawesmart.co.uk