Thursday 24th August – Darlington Auction Mart had forward:
58 Bulls sold to 320ppk & £2465
24 Steers sold to 329ppk & £2253
48 Heifers sold to 352ppk & £2181
1825 Lambs sold to 517ppk & £300
424 Cast Sheep sold to £160
9 Pigs sold to 200ppk & £154
Bulls (58) Another noticeable rise in bull prices today, for all classes, not nearly enough forward to satisfy demand. Top price was 320ppk & £2345 for a British Blue sold by LS Staley, Bluestone House to JA Jewitt Ltd, Spennymoor. AC Simpson & Son, McNeil Farm sold the lead grossing Bull to £2465 to Worsley Wholesale Ltd. Only one contender in the Friesians – the ever-consistent R Hall & Son, Kilton Hall’s Black & White selling for 221ppk & £1496 to Bowland Foods. AG Watson & Sons, Nunstainton Grange sold 2 Angus bulls for 255ppk & £2084 to JA Jewitt Ltd & Hartshead Meats.
JB Luck & Son 304ppk & £2346
LS Staley 317ppk & £2291
AC Simpson & Son 295ppk & £2201
Renton Highlaws Ltd 285ppk & £2142
GK KN & GJ Hird 300ppk & £1960
Continental Bulls – Top prices ppk 320 315 LS Staley. 313 306 282 GK KN & GJ Hird. 313 305 299 297 279 274 271 Renton Highlaws Ltd. 311 280 270 269 LR Welsh & Co. 310 300 JB Luck & Son. 309 304 288 279 AC Simpson & Son. 298 296 275 261 AG Watson & Sons. 287 270 DH Lawson. 287 270 268 GH Farms Ltd. 285 273 266×2 JH&M&NW Brown. 272 262 255 RW&R Henry. 250 Ouston Farms Ltd. 249 242 TF Bothroyd & Son.
Lead grossing Continental Bulls £2465 £2286 £2249 AC Simpson & Son. £2436 £2256 JB Luck & Son. £2345 £2236 LS Staley. £2251 £2250 £2227 £2200 £2177 £2156 Renton Highlaws Ltd. £2250 £2154 £2100 £2096 JH&M&NW Brown. £2246 £2206 £2144 RW&R Henry. £2229 £2220 £2202 AG Watson & Sons. £2127 £2057 £2001 £1962 LR Welsh & Co. £2080 £1987 DH Lawson. £2040 £1933 £1906 GK KN & GJ Hird. £1954 £1843 GH Farms Ltd.
Friesian Bulls – Top prices ppk 221 R Hall & Son.
Lead Grossing Friesian Bulls £1496 R Hall & Son.
Native Bulls – Top prices ppk 255 249 AG Watson & Sons. 238 R Hall & Son. 217 D Lupton.
Lead Grossing Native Bulls £2084 £2011 AG Watson & Sons. £1508 R Hall & Son. £1098 D Lupton.
Clean Cattle (72) A welcome dry spell saw numbers lighter this week. An overall average of 310ppk for Heifers & 285ppk for steers speaks volumes regarding the red-hot trade at ringside. Leading the way at 352ppk & £2062 was the father & son combination, JV&JA Hodgson The Grange, Summerhouse – their Limousin Heifer, as always finished to perfection was purchase by Worsley Wholesale Ltd. Barker Farming Partnership, Tancred Grange were streets ahead in the steer section with half a dozen heavyweights grossing at £2253 also selling to Worsley Wholesale Ltd.
Some of the top cattle averages from today:
JV&JA Hodgson 330ppk & £1951
Barker Farming Partnership 311ppk & £1970
R Hirst 330ppk & £1858
Steers Top Prices ppk – 329 323 321 319 309 306 278 275 Barker Farming Partnership. 319 x2 289 284 WJ Smith & Partners. 317 311 298 288 WA Wardman LTD. 301 276 Askwiths. 256 246 236 231 TN Hodgson & Sons. 250 Anthony Swinbank & Son.
Lead Grossing Steers – £2253 £2085 £2047 £1960 £1891 £1857 £1837 £1836 £1409 Barker Farming Partnership. £1780 1697 Askwiths. £1773 £1741 £1598 £1564 WJ Smith & Partners. £1748 £1725 £1718 £1532 TN Hodgson & Sons. £1668 1610 £1581 £1440 WA Wardman LTD. £1560 Anthony Swinbank & Son.
Heifers Top Prices ppk – 352 350 346 344 338 326 325 320 317 287 JV&JA Hodgson. 350 326 302 298 N White. 348 345 344 336 x2 334 316 312 309 R Hirst. 340 311 303 293 x2 285 277 WF Hustwit. 336 335 319 292 Barker Farming Partnership. 336 279 WA Wardman LTD. 335 322 311 Askwiths. 298 Anthony Swinbank & Son. 280 D Walker. 267 SH Watson & Son.
Lead Grossing Heifers – £2181 £2120 £2102 £1918 Barker Farming Partnership. £2064 £2062 £2030 £1998 £1984 £1954 £1949 £1882 £1879 £1707 JV&JA Hodgson. £1973 £1933 £1925 £1882 £1842 £1835 £1792 £1780 £1759 R Hirst. £1961 £1770 £1763 £1722 £1702 £1668 £1655 £1599 WF Hustwit. £1915 £1851 £1725 Askwiths. £1802 £1760 £1740 £1618 N White. £1716 WA Wardman. £1662 Anthony Swinbank & Son. £1570 SH Watson.
Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their annual junior handlers’ sale of single prime lambs in conjunction with their weekly sale of prime stock on Thursday 24th August 2023.
Junior Handlers Super Singles
The competition gets hotter by the year at this crowd-pleasing event here in DfAM. Primarily thanks go to our generous sponsors for making this possible, we are most grateful to the following: Dots Café, H.H.Smith & Son, Brockhills of Yorkshire, Vicky Anderson Training, NFU Mutual Durham Districts, Swale Vets, S&A Fabrications, Stokesley Show, David Chapman Property & Garden Maintenance, Allflex Livestock Intelligence, Thornton Breakers, Dugdale Nutrition, C&A Embroidery, Vickers & Barrass Chartered Surveyors, Grahams Logs, Stoneygate Farm Shop & Café, Agri source Farm Machinery, East Oakley Servicing & Repairs, Bennison Groundworks, Hutchinson Sheep Shearing.
Secondly our thanks must go to James Routley of Shan’s Group Ltd for undertaking the judging duties, quite some task – as seventeen future farmers presented thirty-one sheep before him over four classes; James did an excellent job throughout.
The Champion this year went to three-year-old Oliver Walton of Hurworth with his winner of the Any Other breed class; named ‘Jonnie Rodger’ the black lamb sired by a Charollais tup was bred from one of Olivers own black Texel ewes at the local farm, the Walton family effort also saw a previous year’s winner, Olivers big sister Katie, in the prizes with her first prized Texel lamb ‘Matty’ certainly deserving of an honourable mention as he topped a strong class of twelve. Reserve champion went to Charlie Askwith of Crook with his beautiful Beltex class winner, the fifteen-year-old narrowly missed out when trying to emulate his older brother Harry’s tri coloured sash gained on Monday this week at our inaugural store lamb super single event.
The special £50 prize for best showmanship went to seven-year-old Harry Whitfield of High Castledene, Knitsley; our judge was very impressed with Harry’s independence and skill when holding and steering his two lambs expertly around the judging ring.
Winning the £50 prize for the best turned out lamb was five-year-old Harriet Gilson from Old Park Farm, Byers Green with her winning Suffolk sired exhibit, congratulations are in order as the standard of presentation was absolutely superb across the board.
All the youngsters deserve huge credit for putting forward a terrific display of sheep, the trade for their lambs was excellent and thanks also go to the butchers and wholesalers who bid freely to justly reward the next generation of live ring supporters. The thirty-one lambs from our junior handlers averaged a staggering £169.03
Show Results
Lamb Sired by a Beltex
1st Charlie Askwith, Crook sold for £190 to Shan’s Group Ltd
2nd Oliver Walton, Hurworth sold for £198 to Worsley Wholesale
3rd Harry Whitfield, Knitsley sold for £188 to Roots Farm Shop
4th Katie Walton, Hurworth sold for £200 to Worsley Wholesale
Lamb Sired by a Texel
1st Katie Walton, Hurworth sold for £202 to J A Jewitt Ltd
2nd Harry Whitfield, Knitsley sold for £176 to Shan’s Group Ltd
3rd Oliver Walton, Hurworth sold for £220 to Roots Farm Shop
4th William Gilson, Byers Green sold for £186 to Worsley Wholesale
Lamb Sired by a Suffolk
1st Harriet Gilson, Byers Green sold for £200 to J A Jewitt Ltd
2nd Anna Herbert, Barnard Castle sold for £168 to Country Valley Foods
3rd Katie Walton, Hurworth sold for £162 to J A Jewitt Ltd
4th Ava Bolam, Quebec sold for £138 to J A Jewitt Ltd
Lamb Sired by Any Other Breed
1st Oliver Walton, Hurworth sold for £300 to Worsley Wholesale
2nd Charlie Askwith, Crook sold for £186 to Roots Farm Shop
3rd Francesca Stobbs, Killerby sold for £162 to J A Jewitt Ltd
4th Emma Gilson, Byers Green sold for £168 to Roots Farm Shop
Champion Lamb
Oliver Walton – Charollais Cross
Reserve Champion Lamb
Charlie Askwith – Beltex
Best Turned-Out Lamb
Harriet Gilson
Showmanship Award
Harry Whitfield
Prime Lambs (1825) – Despite the lamb trade dropping earlier in the week, lambs of all classes sold better than expected. Top of the non-show lambs was a pen of powerful 53kg Continental lambs making £148 from MH Hodgson, East Greystones. Next was Cole Hill Farm LTD, with some shapely Texels at £147 and £145. Following on in the top spots was Ian Kirk, with a sublime Beltex lamb coming to £145. The top non-show Suffolk lambs grossed £142 from I&A Holmes.
Lambs – Top prices ppk 517 450 400 300 Oliver Walton. 452 422 375 Askwiths. 416 Harriet Gilson. 391 308 H Whitfield. 390 Emma Gilson. 370 363 352 331 Katie Walton. 357 B Gilson. 351 293 Alex Wilson. 347 Georgina Davis. 336 R Wilson. 336 330 300 288×2 Anna Herbert. 320 309 F Hare & Sons. 320 William Gilson. 317 Tommy Heys. 312 290 288 Cole Hill Farm Ltd. 312 Lucinda Davis. 311 Jack Allan. 310 F Stobbs. 310 Robert raw. 306 300 DR Smith. 300 291 MH Hodgson. 300 WR Thompson. 300 287 JD Brannen. 295 Ian Kirk. 295 I Burn & Sons. 294 Ronnie Davis. 293 R Lawson & Son.
Lead Grossing Lambs £300 £220 £198 £162 Oliver Walton. £202 £200 £178 £162 Katie Walton. £200 Harriet Gilson. £200 B Gilson. £190 £186 £169 Askwiths. £188 £176 H Whitfield. £186 William Gilson. £175 R Wilson. £168 Emma Gilson. £168 £162 £131 £130 Anna Herbert. £162 £152 F Stobbs. £158 £138 Alex Wilson. £148 £138 £134 MH Hodgson. £147 £145 £130 Cole Hill farm Ltd. £146 Georgina Davis. £145 Ian Kirk. £142 £140 £138×2 £137×2 £136 I&A Holmes. £140 £132 PR Weaver. £140 RG&G Rutter. £138 F Hare & Sons. £138 R Lawson & Son. £138 WH Brown. £135 £132 DR Smith. £135 WR Thompson. £134 I Burn & Sons.
Cast Ewes & Rams (425) – A lot of lean ewes in today as the end of summer draws nearer. Ultimately this affected the average. Best price today was £160 for a continental from WH&KL Wilson. Next in line was a pen of excellent Continental ewes from regular vendor D&PH Brown, making £148. Third top price today was another pen of Continentals from N&LL Brown & Son, grossing £140. Another vendor of notable mention was Pam Stewart of Ovington, with two shapely texels achieving £134. Suffolks today sold up to £107 and Mules to £100.
Lead Grossing Cast Sheep – £160 £107 £102 £80 WH&KL Wilson. £148 D&PH Brown. £140 £130 £114 £81 N&LL Brown & Son. £140 £120 JA&B Nappey. £134 Pam Stewart. £126 £119 £81 JR Mann. £125 £109 RI Jones. £122 £113 JR Knox & Son. £114 £99 G Thompson & Sons. £108 MH Hodgson. £105 WR Thompson. £102 Anna Herbert. £100 J Milbank & Sons. £94 TM Darling & Son. £90 Gray. £87 x2 FR&AL Lyth. £86 £80 JC Johnson. £84 J Atkinson. £84 JD Seymour. £84 N White. £82 JE Stobbs.
Pigs – Top prices ppk 200 170 J Mitchell & Son.
Lead Grossing Pigs £154 £142 J Mitchell & Son.
