Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of prime stock on Thursday 23rd May 2024. Forward were 151 cattle and 765 sheep.
47 Prime Bulls sold to 306ppk or £2644
28 Prime Steers sold to 305ppk or £2218
75 Prime Heifers sold to 346ppk or £2109
1 Cast Cow sold for 130ppk and £908
163 New Season Lambs sold to 504ppk or £214
364 Prime Hoggs sold to 400ppk or £220
238 Cast Ewes & Rams sold to £200
Prime Bulls (47) – The bull trade levelled at 260ppk across the board, arguably the gap narrowed between the top and bottom as the better suckler bred types appeared a shade less money however the dairy breeds and crosses would be easier sold on the week. British Blonde’s ruled the roost this week topping both the prices per kilo and the gross values; best price per kilo of 306 pence went to M Thuey, Longwoods Farm with a super 710kg bull, top of the gross values was a gigantic 1116kg bull from P Weightman & Sons, Hallfield Farm at £2644. Other bulls impressing tended to be Limousin’s, a fine sort from A & D Proctor, Swarland Old Hall sold for £2605 whilst C Binks & Son, Walworth topped at 299ppk and £2224. The expert dairy bull feeders R Hall & Son, Kilton Hall were again at the top of their section selling Friesians to 259ppk and £1577 and Fleckvieh’s to 246ppk and £1611. See below some of the day’s top pen averages.
M Thuey, Easingwold sold 3 to average 288ppk and £1904
J E Jordon & Son, Morpeth sold 3 to average 285ppk and £1900
L R Welsh & Co, Spennymoor sold 3 to average 279ppk and £1967
J J Horn, Richmond sold 2 to average 278ppk and £2158
C Binks & Son, Walworth sold 2 to average 278ppk and £1963
Continental Bulls – Top prices ppk 306 290 267 M Thuey. 299255 C Binks & Son. 294 288 274 JE Jordon & Son. 291 266 JK&CE Farming. 287 A&D Proctor. 284×2 271 LR Welsh & Co. 278×2 JJ Horn. 274 270 JR Knox & Son. 273 Lupton. 271 SH Watson & Son. 269 255 CW Gray. 269 M Shepherd. 263 260 259 GH Farms Ltd. 259 258 TF Bothroyd. 254 248 240 D Richardson & Co Ltd. 253 JM&S Walton.
Lead Grossing Continental Bulls £2644 P Weightman & Sons. £2605 A&D Proctor. £2224 £1703 C Binks & Son. £2176 £1986 £1936 SH Watson & Son. £2173 £2143 JJ Horn. £2172 £1861 £1679 M Thuey. £2138 £1915 £1848 LR Welsh & Co. £2088 £1791 CW Gray. £2078 £2030 £2006 D Richardson & Co Ltd. £2040 £1843 £1816 JE Jordon & Son. £2034 £2024 JK&CE Farming. £2022 £1925 JR Knox & Son.
Friesian Bulls – Top prices ppk 259 247 R Hall & Son. 233 223 JM&S Walton.
Lead Grossing Friesian Bulls £1577 £1509 R Hall & Son. £1521 £1398 JM&S Walton.
Clean Cattle (103) – Dearer by a fair touch on the week, a tidy show of heifers averaged 302 pence per kilo with the handy weights seeing a significant rise whilst a well below par offering of steers carried significant weight to make them look less on paper at 255ppk. Top per kilo was a stunning 566kg Limousin heifer from R Hirst, Neasham Grange when she sold for 346 pence; another regular firm J V & J A Hodgson, The Grange followed closest at 344ppk, between them these two prolific feeders produced eight of the top ten prices per kilo all 335ppk plus. Top steer per kilo was a smart homebred 608kg Limousin from Taylor Bros Ltd, Belle Isle, Richmond when he sold for 305 pence, closest per kilo in the steer race was a 590kg bullock from P J & M P Gilhespy, Low House with the following pack in the 270’s and 280’s carrying significantly more weight. Top of the gross values this week were some superbly finished Limousin steers from A F Hall, Redcar House Farm, Sedgefield which sold thrice over £2000 to average £2160 and top at £2218; C W Gray of Low Hall Farm, Amble followed closest in the steers at £2078 and £2050 with the Ridley’s of Riding Mill the others beyond £2000. Just two heifers sold over £2000 and both hailed from Gerard Quinn of J E Suddes & Son, Rowley Farm; the pick of the pen from the mighty Quinn was a brilliant 708kg British Blue which sold for £2109. Below are some of the top heifer averages.
J E Suddes & Son, Cornsay Colliery sold 4 to average 320ppk and £1988
R Hirst, Neasham sold 15 to average 320ppk and £1908
J V & J A Hodgson, Summerhouse sold 12 to average 315ppk and £1856
W & M Knaggs & Son, Sadberge sold 2 to average 314ppk and £1607
Taylor Bros Ltd, Richmond sold 2 to average 311ppk and £1931
J J Kemp & Son, Stillington sold 2 to average 311ppk and £1829
Steers – Top prices ppk 305 Taylor Bros. 294 PJ&MP Gilhespy. 284 267 CW Gray. 277 268 260 AF Hall. 277 250 247×2 RA&BA Ridley & Son Ltd. 276 270 268 267 265 263 A&MJ Henshaw. 265 250 LW Martin.
Lead Grossing Steers £2218 £2194 £2067 AF Hall. £2078 £2050 CW Gray. £2013 £1947 £1892 £1734 £1692 RA&BA Ridley & Son. £1865 £1839 £1774 £1707 RA&BA Ridley & Son Ltd. £1854 Taylor Bros. £1734 PJ&MP Gilhespy. £1672 TN Hodgson & Sons.
Heifers – Top prices ppk 346 340 338 335×2 326 321 317 315 313 312 310 R Hirst. 344 337 333 324×2 320 317 311 310 JV&JA Hodgson. 335 309 Askwiths. 335 330 325 JE Suddes & Son. 331 W&M Knaggs & Son. 329 A Swinbank & Son. 322 316 306 P&JH Davison. 321 312 311 PJ&MP Gilhespy. 319 303 JJ Kemp & Son. 318 307 304 CW Gray. 317 307 Taylor Bros. 310 WI Suddes & Son. 308 JE Jordon & Son. 307 TW Clark & Son.
Lead Grossing Heifers £2109 £2034 £1989 JE Suddes & Son. £1990 £1987 £1969 £1968 £1966 £1958 £1934 £1928 £1900 R Hirst. £1966 £1958 £1940 £1927 £1921 JV&JA Hodgson. £1961 £1902 Taylor Bros. £1937 JE Jordon & Son. £1927 £1892 £1857 £1853 P&JH Davison. £1894 JJ Kemp & Son. £1893 WI Suddes & Son. £1885 £1869 £1770 TW Clark & Son. £1869 M Shepherd. £1810 PJ&MP Gilhespy. £1792 Askwiths.
New Season Lambs (163) – The lamb trade remains excellent, numbers noticeably slower due to the ridiculously wet spring but current prices will surely help what is perhaps a plainer crop as we sit today some sixty-six pence per kilo better on the year to average a weighed straight 424ppk with an SQQ of 431ppk. A first pick of the 2024 fields for John Simpson, Hill Top East, Caldwell saw him leading the way with half a dozen 41kg Texel lambs at 505ppk and a quartet of 45kg lambs reaching the days top price of £214 when selling to Roots Farm Shop, East Rounton. Plenty of the best bred and best fed lambs are comfortably up and over £200, a fair proportion of Suffolks, Cheviots and lambs out of Mule’s still saw the whole sale all in average £184.61 per head.
Spring Lambs – Top prices ppk 504 497 488 475 JC Simpson. 466 B Fisk. 456 455 452 444 440 431 W&M Knaggs & Son. 454 418 406 400 384 WA Wardman Ltd. 442×2 423 400 BR&R Routledge. 441 414 Duell Partners. 436 J Wigham. 431 421 372 JV&JA Hodgson. 426 JM Smith. 419 408 M&A Gaskin. 387 C&V Harrison. 384 F Johnson. 379 378 372 JW&DW Laing.
Lead Grossing Spring Lambs £214 £207 £205 £204 JC Simpson. £205 £201 £200 £194 £190 W&M Knaggs & Son. £205 J Wigham. £203 £190 Duell Partners. £196 B Fisk. £196 JM Smith. £192 £191 £184×2 £183 WA Wardman Ltd. £190 £160 JV&JA Hodgson. £186×2 £178 £168 BR&R Routledge. £186 C&V Harrison. £186 £175 £174 JW&DW Laing. £184 £172 M&A Gaskin.
Prime Hoggs (364) – Hogg numbers low but surprisingly still up on this week last year, some good sheep at the top end are still selling to the high levels we are now accustomed to but beneath them several folks are clearly scraping the spatula around at the bottom of the barrel. Topping the prices per kilo were two pens of 44kg Beltex hoggs from T N Callender, Ox Eye Farm, Whinney Hill when they sold six and then eight for 400 pence (£176). On to the gross values and a stand out performance came from P R Weaver, Little Manor Farm, Newark with some tremendous Texel tup hoggs, the best four sold for £220 with the next five at £218; having seen the high quality in the prime ring today there is no doubt that some absolute superstars will appear at the Autumn tup sales from the Little Manor Farm pen.
Hoggs – Top prices ppk 400×2 391 375 TN Callender. 390 340 333 313 Whittington. 387 380 339 RE&L Frank. 372 346 340 316 A Crowder. 371 320 296 278 277 PR Weaver. 371 368×2 354 350 330 J&A Layfield. 364 346 304 SJ Love. 361 315 D&B Harding. 341 FP&IM Jefferson. 340 330 J Butterfield & Son. 326 322 JCW Taylor. 320 296 288 285 R Wood & Son. 310 308 300 276 JP Coatsworth & Son.
Lead Grossing Hoggs £220 £218 £200 £197 £186 £184 PR Weaver. £200 £188×3 £182×2 J&A Layfield. £200 £170 JCW Taylor. £194 £192 £182 SWJ Love. £190 £170 A Crowder. £190×2 £186 RE&L Frank. £180 £176×3 TN Callender. £177 £170 £160 SW Bowe. £174 £169 R Wood & Son. £174 FP&IM Jefferson. £170 JK Gregory. £170 DG&PD Ayre. £165 £160 J Butterfield & Son. £164 £160×2 Whittington. £162 F Watson. £160 £159 D&B Harding.
Cast Ewes & Rams (238) – A typical post lambing show of bits and bobs, odds and sods averaged £96.95 all in. The better end of the ewes still sold beyond £150, top of the day at £200 were a quartet of tremendous Texel’s from the on-song P R Weaver, Newark. The marauding Midlander went on to sell four others at £170 which matched a price set earlier by a pair of Suffolk crosses from our other in-form sheep seller J C Simpson, Caldwell. Mule ewes averaged £90 and sold to a top of £130 with the pick of the horned ewes peaking at £80 this week.
Lead Grossing Ewes- £200 £170 £126 £100 PR Weaver. £170 JC Simpson. £170 H Thompson. £160 £142 £136 £110 £105 WA Wardman LTD. £150 £110 x2 DG&PD Ayre. £140 x2 £125 £110 GW Whittington Livestock. £140 x2 £95 F Myers & Sons. £140 £120 A&R Breeze. £140 GA&C Jopling. £130 D Richardson & Co LTD. £130 £110 x2 £104 £100 £96 FP&IM Jefferson. £124 F Johnson. £122 JV&JA Hodgson. £120 x2 JCW Taylor. £120 £100 x2 HM&JS Hutchinson. £114 JP Coatsworth & Son. £104 A Crowder.
