Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of prime stock on Thursday 2nd February 2023. Forward were 157 Cattle, 2365 Sheep and 11 Pigs.
49 Prime Bulls sold to 318ppk or £2563
20 Prime Steers sold to 315ppk or £2125
87 Prime Heifers sold to 331ppk or £2153
1 Stock Bull sold for 169ppk and £1735
2056 Prime Hoggs sold to 330ppk or £152
309 Ewes & Rams sold to £135
11 Prime Pigs sold to 135ppk or £118
Prime Bulls (49) – Not so many about today but those in attendance enjoyed a fabulous trade, just an average show of quality saw the whole shooting match average 257ppk and £1752. Regular sellers Tom Clark, Durham and Stanley Gargett, Barnard Castle arguably produced the best two bulls of the day; a cracking 756kg Limousin from the Durham consigner impressed at 315ppk however the top accolade went to a fantastic Barney based British Blonde at 799kg when he sold for 318ppk. Some grand old gross values to report, the two vendors mentioned shared four of the top five spots however nothing could catch the £2563 achieved by a huge Charolais shown by Ouston Farms Ltd, Ravensworth Park. Nicest of the natives today proved to be a pure-bred Hereford from W & R Kemp & Son, St Helens Auckland which sold for 237ppk and £1888. Final mention goes to a furious Friesian trade with 220ppk and beyond a regular occurrence, best returns today of 232ppk went to J M & S Walton, Barton or a massive £1826 from G W Dobson & Son, Wingate. Below are a few of the pace setting averages.
F & J S Gargett, Barnard Castle sold 2 to average 306ppk and £2386
C Harle & Sons, Brandon sold 3 to average 285ppk and £2087
D Richardson & Co, Melsonby sold 8 to average 281ppk and £2043
T W Clark & Son, Durham sold 3 to average 278ppk and £2161
Prime Bulls Leading PPK – 318 294 F & J S Gargett. 315 280 T W Clark & Son. 300 295 288 287(x2) 274 270 D Richardson & Co. 288 285 284 C Harle & Sons. 288 282 L R Welsh & Co.
Prime Bulls Leading Gross – £2563 Ouston Farms Ltd. £2540 £2231 F & J S Gargett. £2381 £2237 £1865 T W Clark & Son. £2203 £2184 £2154 £2142 £2066 £2014 £1857 D Richardson & Co. £2120 £2098 £2041 C Harle & Sons. £2030 £1940 L R Welsh & Co. £1888 W & R Kemp & Son.
Friesian Bulls Leading PPK – 232 229 227 224 J M & S Walton. 231 230 R Hall & Son. 229 J K & C E Farming. 226 224 G W Dobson & Son. 206 204 J R Knox & Son.
Friesian Bulls Leading Gross – £1826 £1518 G W Dobson & Son. £1570 £1473 R Hall & Son. £1467 £1434 £1417 £1385 J M & S Walton. £1390 J K & C E Farming. £1351 £1236 J R Knox & Son.
Clean Cattle (107) – Absolutely outstanding, the beef trade just keeps on climbing, a tidy show forward resulted in well over half reaching 300ppk and the plethora of superstars were well aided by good finish on the R and O grades meaning the heifers averaged 293ppk and the steers 280ppk with all concerned levelling at £1746 per head. Heifers in the 320’s proved plentiful however just a brace joined club 330, a cracking 625kg sort from J V & J A Hodgson, Summerhouse was pipped at the post by a single penny when a fabulous 577kg Limousin heifer from J Layfield, Willington led the way selling for 331 pence per kilo. Top steer per kilo at an impressive 315 pence went to W J Smith & Partners, Richmond with Coxhoe’s W A Armstrong just tuppence adrift and the Callender’s of Whinney Hill also on the podium. A baker’s dozen of beast sold over £2000, best steer at £2125 hailed from J J Kemp & Son, Stillington however twice heifers realised more. A superb homebred British Blue from W J Scott Ltd, West Woodburn reached £2148 however “you ain’t seen nothing like the mighty Quinn” as this week’s top honours went to Gerard Quinn of J E Suddes & Son, Cornsay Colliery when his fantastic 697kg Limousin added up to £2153. Below are some of the leading players today.
Steers
T N Callender, Stockton sold 2 to average 299ppk and £1920
W J Smith & Partners, Richmond sold 2 to average 298ppk and £1696
E W Grieves, Stockton sold 2 to average 291ppk and £1770
J E Suddes & Son, Cornsay Colliery sold 2 to average 282ppk and £1863
Heifers
B Walker, Dalton-on-Tees sold 3 to average 318ppk and £1868
W J Scott Ltd, West Woodburn sold 6 to average 315ppk and £2002
J E Suddes & Son, Cornsay Colliery sold 2 to average 311ppk and £2047
R Hirst, Neasham sold 7 to average 306ppk and £1743
W J Smith & Partners, Richmond sold 2 to average 304ppk and £1638
J V & J A Hodgson, Summerhouse sold 12 to average 301ppk and £1886
Steers Leading PPK – 315 284 W J Smith & Partners. 313 299 W A Armstrong. 312 289 T N Callender. 299 284 E W Grieves. 296 269 J E Suddes & Son. 286 J M Smith. 278 S Weightman & Son. 269 R O Gilson. 269 J J Kemp & Son.
Heifers Leading PPK – 331 309 J Layfield. 330 317(x2) 313 309 J V & J A Hodgson. 329 327 320 310 309 W J Scott Ltd. 329 326 325 324(x2) 318 316 309 W A Armstrong. 326 318 312 R Hirst. 324 P J & E S Rogerson. 320(x2) 315 B Walker. 318 E W Grieves. 316 W L Robinson & Partners. 315 309 J E Suddes & Son. 312 W J Smith & Partners. 312 309 C W Gray. 311 J J Kemp & Son.
Steers Leading Gross – £2125 J J Kemp & Son. £2059 S Weightman & Son. £1988 £1853 T N Callender. £1953 £1772 J E Suddes & Son. £1839 £1705 R O Gilson. £1821 £1735 J M Smith. £1802 £1738 E W Grieves. £1790 W A Armstrong. £1716 W J Smith & Partners.
Heifers Leading Gross – £2153 £1940 J E Suddes & Son. £2148 £2061 £1999 £1962 £1947 £1894 W J Scott Ltd. £2107 £2034 £2033 £2011 £1893 £1887 C W Gray. £2062 £2048 £2009 £2000 £1912 £1899 £1887 J V & J A Hodgson. £1994 R O Gilson. £1944 £1913 £1904 W A Armstrong. £1941 £1940 J J Kemp & Son. £1936 £1893 B Walker. £1909 J Layfield.
Prime Hoggs (2056) – Given the doom and gloom around the hogg trade this week’s averages of 227ppk with an SQQ of 231ppk were actually rather pleasing, as always, no pockets were picked as the sheep crossed the DfAM scale. A good show forward today as the root fed sheep are fast appearing, best of all were a proper pair of 46kg Beltex hoggs from W A Wardman Ltd, Thrushwood Farm, Yearby which sold for 330ppk and £152. Plenty of hoggs sold north of £130 including great runs from regular sellers A C Simpson & Son and also some great sheep from the Midlands shown by T W & P T Moss and P R Weaver. It was apparent that 300 pence per kilo proved a more exclusive club, those in it along with Messrs Wardman were the Skirpenbeck sorcerer Chris Dale and first-time vendors T & H Agri, Ebberston. With the wazzocks in Westminster opening the doors to a recent influx of imports and the big sheep processors interested only in their bottom line the good old live ring again stood firm; lest we forget this turbulent time when your short-sighted deadweight procurement man turns desperate later in the year.
Hoggs- Top prices ppk 330 317 286 283 269 256 WA Wardman LTD. 300 273 272 257 256 M&CLR Dale. 300 276 T&H Agri. 295 271 K&MM Henderson. 289 267 256 G Thompson & Sons. 286 TH Richardson & Sons. 282 R&D Harland. 270 J&A Layfield. 265 264 263 262 257 256 J&A Moralee. 265 264 259 257 GW Whittington Livestock. 263 PR Weaver. 260 Cole Hill Farm LTD.
Lead Grossing Hoggs- £152 £141.50 £141 £140.50 £139.50 WA Wardman LTD. £140 £130 x2 GM Blair & Partners. £138 £128 £126.50 PR Weaver. £138 £136 £135 £132 x3 £131 £130 x2 £129.50 £127 AC Simpson & Son. £135.50 £130 K&MM Henderson. £135 x2 £129.50 £126.50 TW&PT Moss Limited. £134 £132 £131 M&CLR Dale. £133 G Thompson & Sons. £130 J&A Moralee. £130 J&A Layfield. £127.50 Cole Hill Farm LTD.
Cast Ewes & Rams (309) – Ewe trade remains sticky, the best are still nicely north of £100 but compared to recent months things do not look exciting. Best of the week came from Steve Hugill of Wytherstone Farms, Skiplam with a big pair of Texel crossed ewes selling for £135; the run of 82 strong Texel (x24), Suffolk (x23) and Mule (x35) ewes from this good home stood out on the day averaging £105.
Lead Grossing Cast Sheep £135 £125 £125 £120 £117 £115 Wytherstone Farm. £130 £100 W Burton. £120 £98 N Back. £110 £100 £98 T&D Agri. £108 GM Blair & Partners. £110 £102 JJ Horn. £100 C Moralee & Sons. £100 DK Barker. £100 GP Addison. £100 AJ&KM Foster & Son. £90 Beckwith. £90 L&S Barker. £90 TP&RL Swinbank. £90 Cole Hill Farm LTD. £88 W Denham.
Prime Pigs (11) – What is the difference between a flying pig and a politician? The letter F. Trade slightly better.
Leading PPK – 135 130 120 J Mitchell & Son.
Leading Gross – £118 £114 £105 J Mitchell & Son.
