Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of Prime Stock on Thursday 28th October 2021. Forward were 186 Cattle, 2519 Sheep and 8 Pigs.
81 Prime Bulls sold to 275ppk or £2242
19 Prime Steers sold to 288ppk or £1835
84 Prime Heifers sold to 326ppk or £1912
2 Cast Cows sold to 140ppk or £968
1981 Prime Lambs sold to 286ppk or £146
538 Cast Ewes & Rams sold to £144
8 Prime Pigs sold to 105ppk or £96
Prime Bulls (81) – One again the bull ring was superbly well supported with vendors from as far North as Morpeth and South to Leicester; a shade dearer on the week with some extraordinary top end returns. A plainer show with less meat than some weeks still left a marvellous sale average of 225 pence per kilo. Leading the troops over the top today was a superb pair of Limousin bulls from regular vendors A G Watson & Sons, Rushyford as they twice sold to 275 pence per kilo, a cracking British Blonde from D Richardson & Co, Melsonby sold at 273ppk found himself sandwiched between a pair of crackers from Leicestershire’s M & G Chantrell Ltd at 270 and 274ppk.
Top of the gross values was a superb 866kg Limousin from K & A Harker, Worsall when he reached a massive £2242, three other bulls bounded in to our £2000 plus club as one apiece of the aforementioned Watson’s and Richardson’s bulls were joined by first time vendors A R Henley & Son of Ceder Tree Farm, York who’s heavyweight Limousin sold for £2113. Notching up a successful days trading with the best of our Native bred bulls were well finished Hereford’s from J A & M Boyes of Cleatlam when they peaked twice at 228ppk with a top gross value of £1687. The black and white bulls with the most flesh certainly sold well this week, our leading purveyors of piebald bulls today were J K & C E Farming of Piercebridge at 197ppk and £1260, two other good feeders also saw their black and whites surpass £1200.
As always listed below are some vendors who can feel most bullish about today’s results.
K & A Harker, Worsall sold 2 Bulls to average 259ppk and £2046
R & W Todd, Toft Hill sold 2 Bulls to average 253ppk and £1681
A G Watson & Sons, Rushyford sold 6 Bulls to average 252ppk and £1918
M & G Chantrell, Leicester sold 10 Bulls to average 252ppk and £1498
L S Staley, Marwood sold 2 Bulls to average 248ppk and £1919
D Richardson & Co, Melsonby sold 10 Bulls to average 243ppk and £1836
Prime Bulls Leading PPK – 275(x2) 254 250 A G Watson & Sons. 274 270 256 254(x2) 249 246(x2) 245 M & G Chantrell. 273 255 250 243(x2) 240(x2) D Richardson & Co. 263 253 T W Clark & Son. 261 259 K & A Harker. 260 L S Staley. 258 250 R & W Todd. 250 246 244 G Younger. 248 J C & P Tallentire. 246 A R Henley & Son.
Friesian Bulls Leading PPK – 197 J K & C E Farming. 194 190 187 R Hall & Son. 168(x2) G W Dobson & Son. 167 163 D Walker. 164 W E & C A Anderson.
Prime Bulls Leading Gross Value – £2242 £1850 K & A Harker. £2113 A R Henley & Son. £2090 £1996 £1930 £1915 £1844 £1736 A G Watson & Sons. £2014 £1944 £1924 £1903 £1879 £1871 £1778 £1720 £1702 D Richardson & Co. £1991 £1846 L S Staley. £1862 £1779 T W Clark & Son. £1687 J A & M Boyes Ltd. £1682 £1680 R & W Todd. £1675 J M Ramsay & Son. £1663 J K & C E Farming.
Friesian Bulls Leading Gross Value – £1260 J K & C E Farming. £1219 £1154 G W Dobson & Son. £1200 £1166 £1157 R Hall & Son. £993 £980 £932 D Walker.
Clean Cattle (103) – Not the quality of last week therefore not the supersonic averages on offer however yet another fine trade with butchers preparing to get ahead before the Christmas rush. The best beast with a patient finish upon them were very easily sold, wide tops and deep loins are the key to success; we doth our caps today to Jim and Heather Marks of Gilly Flatts, Bishopton as they stole a march on the chasing pack and topped both the steers and heifers per kilo.
The pair of homebred Bishopton beauties saw the 609kg steer sell for 288ppk and the 521kg heifer an impressive 326ppk. The chasing pack contained a further 17 heifers beyond 300ppk, closest to the top as they were with the bulls came M & G Chantrell of Flash Farm, Leicestershire 322ppk whilst regular raiders the Hodgson’s, Hirst’s and White’s all sold sharp heifers in the teens.
Northumberland was the County to come from when we examine todays top gross values; the best steer proved to be a well fleshed 740kg Limousin from C W Gray, Low Hall Farm, Amble which sold for £1835 whilst the leading heifer at a whopping £1912 came from Longhirst Limousin’s and the exceptional home of J E Jordon & Son, The Brocks. Also chipping in with heifers over £1800 were the 3 more vendors this week, absolute belters from some of our usual suspects as R Hirst, J V & J A Hodgson and J E Suddes & Son all impressed.
Credit to the DFAM faithful who again produced the very best of British, below are a sample of our high flyers of the week.
J L Marks, Bishopton sold 3 Heifers & 1 Steer to average 306ppk and £1703
M & G Chantrell, Leicestershire sold 10 Heifers to average 303ppk and £1528
J E Jordon & Son, Longhirst sold 4 Heifers to average 292ppk and £1754
J E Suddes & Son, Cornsay sold 4 Heifers to average 288ppk and £1713
R Hirst, Neasham sold 13 Heifers to average 287ppk and £1572
T W Clark & Son, Durham sold 3 Heifers to average 286ppk and £1496
J V & J A Hodgson, Summerhouse sold 10 Heifers to average 283ppk and £1688
Prime Steers Leading PPK – 288 J L Marks. 251 236 A Crowder. 248 226 221 Jack Henshaw. 248 237 230 C W Gray. 244 232 229 A & M J Henshaw. 243 239 R Valks. 234 229 228(x2) R O Gilson.
Prime Heifers Leading PPK – 326 313 304 J L Marks. 322 312 308 307 302 301(x2) 296 295 290 M & G Chantrell. 319 293 N White. 315 311 309 299 297 296 290(x2) R Hirst. 314(x2) 310 295 294 J V & J A Hodgson. 310 290(x2) J E Jordon & Son. 296 290 T W Clark & Son. 294 J & J H Musgrave. 292 290 P J & E S Rogerson. 292(x2) 288 J E Suddes & Son.
Prime Steers Leading Gross Value – £1835 £1720 £1711 C W Gray. £1753 J L Marks. £1575 £1559 £1436 £1432 R O Gilson. £1558 A Crowder. £1497 £1468 £1415 A & M J Henshaw. £1482 £1453 £1401 Jack Henshaw.
Prime Heifers Leading Gross Value – £1912 £1745 £1714 £1647 J E Jordon & Son. £1838 £1637 £1625 £1623 £1612 £1604 R Hirst. £1819 £1796 £1761 £1749 £1706 £1656 £1640 £1635 J V & J A Hodgson. £1801 £1708 £1684 £1657 J E Suddes & Son. £1778 £1650 £1606 J & J H Musgrave. £1698 £1696 £1665 J L Marks. £1675 £1671 N White. £1613 M & G Chantrell.
Prime Lambs (1981) – It’s feed you need, thicker tops make bigger chops. Once again healthy numbers turned out in DFAM and were indeed well rewarded as the lambs were definitely dearer on the week, a very eclectic mix with many hill lambs and Mule’s included averaged 241ppk and £106.43. As is always the case, everyone in DFAM is treated the same, no need for pray as you cross our weigh. To continue the great day which was in progress for our Northumbrian contingency both the top price per kilo and highest gross value went away with a sublime run of Texel lambs produced by W B Mitchell & Sons, Howlett Hall as they peaked at 286ppk and £146. Heaps of heavy lambs today sold £130 plus, to join the £140 plus team was more difficult however not impossible, entering that exclusive club with the Mitchell’s were F Johnson, Hamsterley; R O Gilson, Byers Green and Hartlepool’s Cole Hill Farm Ltd.
Prime Lambs Leading PPK – 286 282 275 272 271 259(x2) W B Mitchell & Sons. 285 J G Atkinson. 283 275 270 268(x2) 259 C S & V Whitfield. 279 264 258 William Tindale. 278 265 259 H T Davies & Partners. 278 276 260(x2) J & A Moralee. 274 J E Suddes & Son. 271 J K & C E Farming. 268 266 259 AWSM Farms. 265 260 F Hare & Sons. 265 262 Cole Hill Farm Ltd. 263 I M Maughan. 261 J G Hall. 260 Anthony Tindale. 260 M W Cook & Son. 259 257 R O Gilson. 258 G P & A Carter.
Prime Lambs Leading Gross Value – £146 £144 £140 £132 £131 £130 W B Mitchell & Sons. £144.50 F Johnson. £142.50 £136.50 £135.50 R O Gilson. £140.50 £139 £130 Cole Hill Farm Ltd. £139 J & A Moralee. £135.50 J K & C E Farming. £135 £134 C S & V Whitfield. £134.50 £133.50 £130 J E Suddes & Son. £134.50 £133.50 £128.50 R Wood & Son. £133 R Lawson & Son. £130 £125 Anthony Tindale. £129 £128(x2) £124.50 £123(x2) D & P H Brown. £124.50 Ben Taylor. £124 M J Blacklidge. £123 D Newman. £123 S & J Dent & Son. £123 L Collingwood. £122.50 B & J Bainbridge. £122 M Hutchinson. £122 T H Richardson & Sons.
Cast Ewes & Rams (538) – Trade very similar, demand highest for the 3/4 meat sheep as over fat is harder to handle. Leading proceedings this week was a topping Texel ewe from I M Maughan, New Hall Farm at £144. Heavy Mule ewes sold typically £85 to £95 whilst the best of our horned ewes were some marvellous Scotch Blackface from 1st time vendors H & H Robson of Haydon Bridge which sold for £81.
Cast Ewes & Rams Leading Prices – £144 £96 I M Maughan. £135 £124 £98 F Hare & Sons. £120 £114 £103 Wilsons. £118 J J Horn. £112 £97 M Smith. £112 £96 J Hird. £110 AWSM Farms. £110 I Spedding. £110 £101 A Forrest. £108 £98 P Cockburn. £108 £104 W L Robinson & Partners. £104 £100 D & H M Hodgson. £104 £94 S Fenwick. £98 F Johnson. £96 M Barley. £96 William Tindale. £94 Anthony Tindale. £92 J & A Layfield. £91 D W & A Appleton.
Prime Pigs (8) – Let’s talk pork, no massive show this week as last week’s pigmaggedon was probably a one off; our aspirations to globally dominate the pig in blanket market by Christmas all of a sudden look dramatically less likely; trade uncannily similar.
Leading PPK – 105(x3) 100 95 C Weightman.
Leading Gross – £96 £81(x2) £75 £68 C Weightman.
