Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of Prime Stock on Thursday 6th May 2021. Forward were 233 Cattle, 1670 Sheep and 14 Pigs.
100 Prime Bulls sold to 272ppk or £2437
37 Prime Steers sold to 262ppk or £2088
96 Prime Heifers sold to 281ppk or £1803
135 New Season Lambs sold to 413ppk or £182
899 Prime Hoggs sold to 350ppk or £200
636 Cast Ewes & Rams sold to £167
14 Prime Pigs sold to 110ppk or £96
Prime Bulls (100) – Despite the dastardly despicable deadweight disputants reducing their price this week I can happily report that those selling live were again very well rewarded. A fantastic trade for all classes with those in attendance 38% Holstein Friesian, 15% native and still we returned a blinding average of 219ppk. Making their Thursday Darlington debut today were Messrs Reed and Hill of Riding Mill and it was certainly one to remember as they produced the top price per kilo with a wonderful double muscled British Blue weighing 694kg and selling for 272 pence. Frequent visitors to the top spot A & G Watson & Sons of Rushyford twice produced a luscious Limousin’s at 270ppk whilst a remarkable 12 others from seven different vendors sold at 260ppk and beyond. A super six in the £2000 plus club this week, every one a Limousin as a pair each for D Richardson & Co, Melsonby and L S Staley, Marwood were joined by G Carins & Partners of Black Callerton; winning the class today however was something special from the Longhirst herd of J E Jordon & Son as the Morpeth based firm’s 991kg 2 year old bull realised a magnificent £2437. On the whole less quality in the black and whites this week however plenty of life in the trade, tops went to expert feeders R Hall & Son, Kilton Hall at 204ppk and for the second week running J M Stuart & Son crossed the Pennines and impressed with their best Friesian selling for a tremendous £1483.
A G Watson & Sons, Rushyford sold 6 Bulls to average 260ppk and £1753
J A & M Boyes Ltd, Cleatlam sold 5 Bulls to average 260ppk and £1742
L S Staley, Marwood sold 2 Bulls to average 257ppk and £2088
C Harle & Sons, Brandon Village sold 4 Bulls to average 257ppk and £1861
Reed & Hill, Riding Mill sold 2 Bulls to average 254ppk and £1932
D Richardson & Co, Melsonby sold 4 Bulls to average 251ppk and £1959
J & A Moralee, Bardon Mill sold 3 Bulls to average 251ppk and £1811
Prime Bulls Leading PPK – 272 240 Reed & Hill. 270(x2) 267 260 256 A G Watson & Sons. 269 262 258 242 C Harle & Sons. 268 265(x2) 263 J A & M Boyes Ltd. 266 249 L S Staley. 262 249 244 J & A Moralee. 262 255 252 D Richardson & Co Ltd. 260 247 244 R S Hall & Sons. 246 J E Jordon & Son. 246 242 D W Humphrey. 243 G Carins & Partners.
Leading Bulls Gross – £2437 J E Jordon & Son. £2126 £2050 L S Staley. £2109 G Carins & Partners. £2053 £2006 £1992 £1785 D Richardson & Co. £1999 £1833 £1802 £1730 J A & M Boyes Ltd. £1977 £1887 Reed & Hill. £1909 £1907 £1867 £1759 C Harle & Sons. £1881 £1871 £1775 £1744 £1724 A G Watson & Sons. £1837 £1784 J & A Moralee. £1746 D W Humphrey. £1735 £1656 J M Stuart & Son. £1716 J K & C E Farming.
Black & White Bulls Leading PPK – 204 203 R Hall & Son. 203 M Ord & Sons. 200 194 192 J E & B Morgan & Sons. 195 190 189 186 J & J H Musgrave. 192 190 N Howard. 189 188 186 J M Stuart & Son. 189 G W Dobson & Son. 188 G S Dowson. 186(x2) C & M Atkinson & Sons.
Black & White Bulls Gross – £1483 £1286 £1190 £1155 £1147 £1134 £1120 J M Stuart & Son. £1386 M Ord & Sons. £1297 £1270 R Hall & Son. £1279 £1232 G W Dobson & Son. £1179 C & M Atkinson & Sons. £1130 £1128 J & J H Musgrave.
Clean Cattle (133) – As with the bulls the live ring defiantly refuses to falter, for those who have taken a reduction on the hook this week, DFAM wish to apologise if the following report gives you a fever, a new persistent cough or a loss of smell and taste, if symptoms persist you should delete your deadweight agents number from your telephone immediately. Gerrard ‘The Mighty’ Quinn of J E Suddes & Son, Rowley Farm, Cornsay Colliery was again writing the headlines as his quartet of heavyweight steers peaked at £2088, twice reached 262ppk, sold three times beyond £2000 and averaged £2025. Further heroics through the steer section came from Team Low Leam and the good home of W J Scott Ltd, West Woodburn who’s smart half dozen averaged 249ppk and £1783. An average was achieved throughout the steers today of 239ppk. The heifer race was a close one with five regular sellers at the business end, four selling to exactly 280ppk were just pipped at the post by a single penny and a smart British Blue crossed heifer from R Hirst, Neasham. As mentioned 5 heifers sold at 280 and beyond with a further 18 270-279ppk as the heifers averaged 252ppk; half a dozen heifers today sold beyond £1700 with the top a perfectly finished home bred Limousin from D W Humphrey, Capon Hall Farm reaching £1803.
J & A Moralee, Bardon Mill sold 2 Heifers to average 273ppk and £1474
F & J S Gargett, Barnard Castle sold 3 Heifers to average 268ppk and £1597
P J & M P Gilhespy, Ponteland sold 6 Heifers to average 268ppk and £1490
J E Jordon & Son, Morpeth sold 3 Heifers to average 267ppk and £1526
R Hirst, Neasham sold 5 Heifers to average 266ppk and £1401
K & J Heslop, Fishburn sold 5 Heifers to average 263ppk and £1462
B Walker, Dalton-on-Tees sold 3 Heifers to average 262ppk and £1614
M F Hall, Ponteland sold 2 Steers, 4 Heifers to average 262ppk and £1379
P & J H Davison, Morley sold 5 Heifers to average 261ppk and £1461
J E Suddes & Son, Cornsay Colliery sold 4 Steers to average 259ppk and £2025
W J Scott Ltd, West Woodburn sold 6 Steers, 4 Heifers to average 255ppk and £1748
Prime Steers Leading PPK – 262(x2) 259 255 J E Suddes & Son. 261 260 254 251 246 238 236 I Bosworth. 260 256 252 246(x2) 240 W J Scott Ltd. 260 256 M F Hall. 254 A G Watson & Sons. 250 G Carins & Partners. 250 248 G & J Y Marshall. 247 240 236 234 L W Martin.
Prime Heifers Leading PPK – 281 269 R Hirst. 280 267 K & J Heslop. 280 270 B Walker. 280 268 J J Kemp & Son. 280 271 M F Hall. 279 276 P & J H Davison. 277 272 W J Scott Ltd. 275 274 272 266 P J & M P Gilhespy. 274(x2) F & J S Gargett. 274 272 J & A Moralee. 273(x2) J E Jordon & Son. 273 R A & B A Ridley & Son. 270 266 I R Appleton. 270 267 J Layfield. 267 S & J Dent.
Prime Steers Leading Gross – £2088 £2053 £2035 £1922 J E Suddes & Son. £1872 £1859 £1833 £1748 £1712 £1677 W J Scott Ltd. £1762 G Carins & Partners. £1670 £1645 £1591 £1567 £1524 L W Martin. £1508 £1454 T N Hodgson & Sons. £1482 £1465 £1440 £1425 £1413 I Bosworth. £1417 M F Hall. £1413 G Y & J Marshall.
Prime Heifers Leading Gross – £1803 D W Humphrey. £1744 £1623 M & J Cheesbrough & Sons. £1734 £1728 £1710 £1608 W J Scott Ltd. £1728 J E Jordon & Son. £1715 £1580 F & J S Gargett. £1656 £1545 R A & B A Ridley & Son. £1656 £1584 £1539 G Carins & Partners. £1655 £1600 £1587 B Walker. £1639 M Shephard. £1602 K & J Heslop. £1595 £1585 £1561 £1530 £1516 J Layfield. £1590 £1527 J J Kemp & Son. £1537 £1527 £1501 P & J H Davison. £1532 £1515 P J & M P Gilhespy. £1504 J & A Moralee. £1500 I R Appleton.
New Season Lambs (135) – Once again the sheep trade remains buoyant, an extra account or two active this week at ringside certainly aided proceedings, those who phoned in this afternoon recieved a nice surprise as the spring lambs averaged a tremendous 356ppk, what’s more, as always in DFAM with our transparent and competitive ring they couldn’t wait to hear their weights. Top price this week went to the first draw of 2021 from J C Simpson, Hill Top East, Caldwell as he twice sold 44kg lambs to 413ppk and £182, the buyers being Roots Farm Shop, East Rounton and Yorkshire Halal. A fair proportion of pet lambs were included today, the better naturally reared lambs were all up and around 370 to 400 pence per kilo.
New Season Lambs Leading PPK – 413(x2) J C Simpson. 378 364 Wtherstone Farm. 375 373 366 G & E Walton. 375 360 J Bolton. 375 T W Clark & Son. 373 362 J A Birkbeck. 373 372 364 P Tindale. 369 J R & J Crowe. 369 J C Johnson.
New Season Lambs Leading Gross – £182(x2) J C Simpson. £178 £160 R Grice. £174 £166 £159 £154 £153 Wytherstone Farms. £160 £158 £155 £153 P Tindale. £156 G F Whitfield. £155 J R & J Crowe. £155 J W & D W Laing. £154(x2) £153 G & E Walton. £153 J A Birkbeck.
Prime Hoggs (899) – For the hogg producers still selling their patience is both admirable and well rewarded, another incredible display containing every creed and colour known to man, given that the bag of dolly mixtures presented the SQQ today of 297ppk was extraordinary with trade considerably dearer on the week. Top of the sale a magical £200 for a wonderful single Texel from J & F Hartley & Sons, Low Shipley Farm; close behind naturally was the super consistent A C Simpson & Son of Witton-le-Wear as today’s run of 70 heavyweight Suffolk’s averaged 61kg and £178.94. Leading the prices per kilo was G E Raw of Toft Hill Hall as they produced a sublime Beltex hogg which reached £175 and 350ppk. Any amount of the better bred and better fed sheep in the 330ppk to 340ppk bracket today, horned hoggs sold to a top of £143 from J H & D Wise, Newton Aycliffe with a pen of well finished Scotch Blackface.
Prime Hoggs Leading PPK – 350 G E Raw. 342 Railway View Farm. 341 340 R E & L Frank. 340 335 T N Callender. 330 T W Clark & Son. 329 320 J Hicks. 326 320 C Orton. 323 S A Braithwaite. 321 W Robson. 321 J M & S Walton. 321 A C Simpson & Son. 320 R S Hall & Sons. 320 M R Madrell.
Prime Hoggs Leading Gross – £200 £183 £170 J & F Hartley & Sons. £194 £193 £192 £190 £186 £185 £182 £181(x2) £180 £179 £178 £171 £170 A C Simpson & Son. £183 £175 J A & A Herbert. £175 G E Raw. £170 P J Tindale.
Cast Sheep (636) – The lean meat remains a blistering trade as we near the end of Ramadan celebrations, big ewes continue a fair trade however it’s the delicate, downtrodden and decrepit which need to be seen to be believed. Top of the shop today were a super pen of 5 strong ewes from P Tindale, Shadforth selling for £167, any amount of stronger ewes £140-£160 all through the sale. For the sale to average £114 was a truly amazing achievement, the bags of bones which were cursed during lambing really are redeeming themselves at the death.
£167 P Tindale. £165 P J Tindale. £165 £159 £144 P R Weaver. £163 P Turnbull. £159 £158 £155(x2) £145(x2) £144 £143 W & M Knaggs & Son. £158 J C Simpson. £158 M W Reed. £155 W Robson. £154 R Grice. £154 J M & S Walton. £148 R Simpson & Sons. £147 G F Whitfield. £146(x2) Ivanhoe Livestock. £145 R & W Todd. £145 B Lowson. £143 P J Wilson. £143 W & C Iceton. £143 A & R Thompson.
Prime Pigs (14) – Tom Tom the Pipers son, stole a pig and away did run – sorry Tom but on today’s trade no thefts were witnessed, the pork continues to rally.
Prime Pigs Leading PPK – 110 108 J Mitchell & Son. 105 100 C Weightman.
Prime Pigs Leading Gross – £96 £92 J Mitchell & Son. £86 £71 C Weightman.
