Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of prime stock on Thursday 14th March 2024. Forward were 167 cattle, 1802 sheep and 7 pigs.
37 Prime Bulls sold to 329ppk or £2574
19 Prime Steers sold to 325ppk or £2231
105 Prime Heifers sold to 358ppk or £2361
3 Cast Cows sold to 197ppk or £1615
3 Stock Bulls sold to 206ppk or £1781
1562 Prime Hoggs sold to 520ppk or £250
240 Cast Ewes & Rams sold to £248
7 Prime Pigs/Sows sold to 110ppk or £162
Prime Bulls (37) – Numbers way short of buyer requirement, quality variable and many more could have sold to vendor advantage, those offered averaged an excellent 287ppk and £1921 per head. The leading quartet sold over 320ppk with a further sixteen 300ppk and beyond; of the top four, two hailed from J H & M & N W Brown, West Hartburn Farm, one came from W & M Knaggs & Son, East Newbiggin Farm but top of them all was a smart 670kg Limousin from L S Staley, Bluestone House Farm selling at 329ppk. The top two gross valued bulls both came from K & A Harker, Worsall Grove Farm; this good home’s Limousin’s sold at £2574 and £2556 respectively, fifteen other bulls sold over £2000 on the day. A reduced offering of Holstein Friesian bulls today was topped by J M & S Walton, Brettanby Farm who hit highs of 235ppk and £1574. See below some of the day’s top pen averages.
L S Staley, Marwood sold 2 to average 322ppk and £2277
JH & M & NW Brown, Darlington sold 4 to average 314ppk and £1897
C Harle & Sons, Brandon sold 4 to average 309ppk and £2201
W I Suddes & Son, Cornsay sold 3 to average 308ppk and £1952
JK & CE Farming, Piercebridge sold 2 to average 307ppk and £2160
W & M Knaggs & Son, Sadberge sold 4 to average 303ppk and £2059
K & A Harker, Worsall sold 2 to average 291ppk and £2565
Continental Bulls – Top prices ppk 329 316 LS Staley. 326 324 308 303 JH&M&NW Brown. 325 300×2 289 W&M Knaggs & Son. 315 313 304×2 C Harle & Sons. 315 309 302 WI Suddes & Son. 315 300 JK&CE Farming. 314 B&JD Beadle. 302 GW Dobson & Son. 298 285 K&A Harker. 297 293 C Binks & Son. 269 Tallentire. 259 254 TF Bothroyd & Son. 252 249 J&K Woodward.
Lead Grossing Continental Bulls £2574 £2556 K&A Harker. £2351 £2204 LS Staley. £2245 £2225 £2222 £2112 C Harle & Sons. £2241 B&JD Beadle. £2223 £2097 JK&CE Farming. £2125 £2112 £2025 £1976 W&M Knaggs & Son. £2089 £1915 £1899 JH&M&NW Brown. £2005 £2003 £1848 WI Suddes & Son. £1978 GW Dobson & Son. £1948 £1844 £1807 TF Bothroyd & Son. £1842 J&K Woodward. £1776 £1714 C Binks & Son.
Friesian Bulls – Top prices ppk 235×2 234×2 JM&S Walton. 230 GW Dobson & Son.
Lead Grossing Friesian Bulls £1574 £1377 £1345 £1278 JM&S Walton. £1467 GW Dobson & Son.
OTM – Top prices ppk 206 187 173 P Tindale. 197 179 WJ&AS Bowes & Sons. 154 J Elliott.
Lead Grossing OTM £1781 £1602 £1204 P Tindale. £1615 £1519 WJ&AS Bowes & Sons. £1275 J Elliott.
Clean Cattle (124) – Clean beef noticeably dearer on the week, some excellent sorts at the top end mixed with a greatly increased percentage of dairy crosses mattered little as all classes were in very high demand to see heifers average 307ppk and the steers 288ppk. Some super sorts up at the top with five heifers selling 350ppk plus, fourteen 340-349ppk and a further sixteen 330-339ppk. In the 350 plus club were both W & M Knaggs, East Newbiggin and W J Scott Ltd, Low Leam but the plaudits must go to regular selling J V & J A Hodgson, The Grange who turned out three of our famous five including the topper a brilliant 583kg Limousin at 358 pence per kilo. Top steer per kilo at 325 pence went to A J Marr & Son of Old Ravensworth Farm with a smart 607kg Limousin, a terrific pair of British Blue’s from W J Scott Ltd, Low Leam Farm snapping at the leader’s heels reached highs of 322ppk. On to the leading gross values, thirty-three cattle sold over £2000 with a baker’s dozen of those climbing over £2100; top of the tree were the remarkable team from Low Leam as the Scott family sold British Blue heifers to £2361 and steers the same way bred to £2231. Three regular visitors to our winner’s enclosure sold Limousin crossed heifers over £2200 as the Hirst’s of Neasham, Hodgson’s of Summerhouse and L R Welsh & Co, Spennymoor all showed beast well worthy of mention. Some great pen averages are listed below.
Heifers
W & M Knaggs & Son, Sadberge sold 2 to average 349ppk and £1882
B Walker, Dalton-on-Tees sold 3 to average 343ppk and £1903
Askwiths, Crook sold 2 to average 335ppk and £1906
J V & J A Hodgson, Summerhouse sold 12 to average 333ppk and £2025
R Hirst, Neasham sold 15 to average 332ppk and £1963
W J Scott Ltd, West Woodburn sold 4 to average 330ppk and £2138
W F Hustwit, Sedgefield sold 5 to average 327ppk and £1898
L R Welsh & Co, Spennymoor sold 2 to average 328ppk and £2138
Steers
W J Scott Ltd, West Woodburn sold 3 to average 308ppk and £2197
A J Marr & Son, Gateshead sold 2 to average 308ppk and £1983
W R Thompson, Etherley sold 3 to average 292ppk and £1965
Askwiths, Crook sold 2 to average 288ppk and £2010
L R Welsh & Co, Spennymoor sold 2 to average 285ppk and £2119
Steers- Top Prices PPK 325 294 AJ Marr & Son. 322 319 287 WJ Scott LTD. 300 x2 279 WR Thompson. 300 294 280 272 PR&V Barlow & Son. 294 283 Askwiths. 289 282 LR Welsh & Co.
Lead Grossing Steers £2231 £2185 £2175 WJ Scott Ltd. £2129 £2109 LR Welsh & Co. £2058 £1953 £1886 WR Thompson. £2012 £2008 Askwiths. £1993 £1972 AJ Marr & Son. £1791 W Lewis & Sons. £1734 £1522 PR&V Barlow & Son.
Heifers- Top Prices PPK 358 355 350 349 343 339 334 332 x2 316 JV&JA Hodgson. 356 341 334 WJ Scott LTD. 350 349 W&M Knaggs & Son. 349 348 334 B Walker. 347 345 344 x2 343 340 337 336 x2 334 x2 320 319 316 R Hirst. 344 326 Askwiths. 342 325 TN Callender. 336 323 322 317 G&JY Marshall. 336 335 x2 319 315 WF Hustwit. 334 324 LR Welsh & Co. 328 318 WJ&AS Bowes & Sons. 327 319 x2 314 313 311 PJ&MP Gilhespy. 324 JM Smith. 323 Anthony Swinbank & Son. 323 RW&R Henry. 318 AJ Marr & Son. 311 J&R Hutchinson & Sons.
Lead Grossing Heifers £2361 £2172 £2111 WJ Scott Ltd. £2294 £2093 £2074 £2044 £2007 £1993 £1988 R Hirst. £2224 £2123 £2118 £2107 £2092 £2087 £2084 £2045 £2012 JV&JA Hodgson. £2206 £2070 LR Welsh & Co. £2139 £2085 £2030 M Ord & Sons. £2036 WJ&AS Bowes & Sons. £2033 J&R Hutchinson & Sons. £2019 Askwiths. £2011 £1944 RW&R Henry. £2004 TN Callender. £1971 PJ&MP Gilhespy. £1969 JM Smith. £1959 £1946 WF Hustwit. £1957 £1929 B Walker.
Prime Hoggs (1562) – The live ring is king as the heavenly hoggs go dearer again and continue to leave the deadweight options available a million miles off the pace, sell them on their feet, it’s an absolute treat. Numbers tightening in this part of the world now and with that naturally came anything but a fancy show of quality, thus said plenty of meat available as the majority were nicely finished; none of this mattered, as always weighed 100% straight the sale averaged a terrific 400 pence per kilo with an SQQ average of 410ppk. Starting at the top per kilo, seven super 45kg Beltex from T A Greensit & Sons, Kirkby Fleetham led the way at 520 pence; a smashing single 44kg Beltex from T N Callender, Whinney Hill followed at 509ppk ahead of ten top 44kg Texel’s from R Atkinson, Scorton at 502ppk, the next 22 pens (330 hoggs) sold between 450ppk and 500ppk on what turned out to be another miraculous day in the sheep ring. On to the gross values, with the heavy hoggs in stunning form the top spot of £250 was shared between two vendors, a second mention here for the Greensit’s with a 52kg Texel joining a sensational 69kg Charollais from William Tindale of Shadforth. Plenty of hoggs followed in the £240’s which included a host from regular selling A C Simpson & Son along with Nottinghamshire’s Ian Kirk, stacks of vendors in the £220’s and £230’s which is quite frankly a statement that even the most optimistic didn’t foresee. Away from the lowland breeds the hill sheep are also enjoying this new found fortune, Mule hoggs sold to a top of £179, Herdwick’s sold to 370ppk and £145, one hundred Swaledale hoggs averaged 331ppk and £145 and lest we forget our Welsh counterparts who had much greater success than their rugby team of late when Llanwenog hoggs topped at £155. Check out some of the day’s top averages listed below, many vendors up £20 per head this week on what looked a terrific trade just seven days ago.
R Atkinson, Scorton sold 160 to average 460ppk
CK & D Muir Ltd, Loftus sold 30 to average 455ppk
WE Frank & Son, Stockton sold 20 to average 454ppk
T N Callender, Stockton sold 20 to average 447ppk
T A Greensit & Sons, Northallerton sold 52 to average 442ppk
J & A Layfield, Hamsterley sold 51 to average 438ppk
AS & G Donaldson, Little Langton sold 41 to average 432ppk
A C Simpson & Son, Witton-le-Wear sold 61 to average £226
J & A Layfield, Hamsterley sold 51 to average £225
W Tindale, Shadforth sold 38 to average £221
JR Knox & Son, Heighington sold 21 to average £211
R Atkinson, Scorton sold 160 to average £204
S Bowe, Bedale sold 22 to average £202
CK & D Muir Ltd, Loftus sold 30 to average £200
T N Callender, Stockton sold 20 to average £200
Hoggs – Top prices ppk 520 480 476 452 TA Greensit & Sons. 509 492 TN Callender. 502 484 470 464 462 461 452 450 R Atkinson. 500 479 476 466 461 453 447 W Tindale. 500 TN Callender. 497 452 CK&D Muir Ltd. 477 446 SW Bowe. 466 AWSM Farms. 464×2 WE Frank & Son. 460 451 450 J&A Layfield. 459 452×2 448 AS&G Donaldson. 458 454 450 445 444 Whittington. 458 444 I Kirk. 455 DW Robinson. 452 I Marshall & Sons. 451 AC Simpson & Son. 446 W Allison & Sons. 446 WL Robinson & Partners. 444 A Davenport. 444 JC&A Hutchinson.
Lead Grossing Hoggs £250 £234 TA Greensit & Sons. £250 £238 £236 £235×3 £230 £228×2 £219×2 W Tindale. £245 £244 £243 £240×2 £234 £232 £230 £228 £227 £224 £222 £220×3 AC Simpson & Son. £240 £230 £220×2 I Kirk. £238 £225×2 £221×2 £220 £219 J&A Layfield. £235 £231 WJ Scott Ltd. £234 JR Knox & Son. £230 £224 TN Callender. £229 CK&D Muir Ltd. £221 3218 R Atkinson. £219 W Denham. £216 M Hutchinson.
Cast Ewes & Rams (240) – Following the blistering hogg trade the ewes too took a lift as they averaged £118 with twenty-four tups amongst them levelling at £163. Tups led the way as Texel’s from P R Weaver, Nottingham sold to £248 and £230 sandwiching a smart Beltex boy from local producers W L Robinson & Partners which sold for £246. More success for the Midlands in the ewe race as P R & V Barlow led the way at £226 with P R Weaver next in line at £206. Mule ewes look up a good £15 on the week topping at £139 for a dozen from C G Teasdale & Son, Skiplam; the seventy-four Mule ewes averaged £122 this week. Twenty Blackface ewes from Messrs Tyreman, Danby were the pick of the horned sheep when they averaged £81 selling to a top of £96 whilst fleshy Swaledale ewes peaked at £78.
Lead Grossing Cast Sheep £248 £230 £206 £194 £150 PR Weaver. £246 £150 £116 WL Robinson & Partners. £226 £200 £146 £145 £132 £122 £120×2 PR&V Barlow. £200 £178 W Denham. £192 £172 £138 PJ Wilson. £191 £178 £170 £168 £166×2 £164 £148 £146 JG Atkinson. £190 £118 JS Wiper. £186 £164 JC Simpson. £165 EA Martin & Son. £148 £136 £129 MW&M Skidmore. £144 J Pallister & Sons. £144 J Bolton. £139 £118 CG Teasdale & Son. £136 DW Robinson. £136 F Myers & Sons. £127 W Wearmouth & Son.
Prime Pigs & Sows (7) – Ginger parkins and chocolate chip cookies this week were literally the only excitement in the pig alley, no life in the pig trade today at all.
Pigs – top prices ppk 110 100 75 C Weightman.
Lead Grossing Pigs £162 £86 £85 C Weightman.
