My hopes for 2014 are for buoyant stock prices which will benefit all farmers and livestock producers who produce the finest of British produce.

This will ensure that everyone involved in the livestock industry achieves satisfactory returns.

In farming the weather is also very important, and never more so than during lambing time and spring calving. So I really hope that unlike last year the sun will shine.

On a personal note, I would like to wish all farmers and businesses a very prosperous 2014.

David Pritchard, operations director of Harrison & Hetherington, which operates both Kirkby Stephen and Broughton-in-Furness auction marts