Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of prime stock on Thursday 5th September 2024. Forward were 166 cattle and 2057 sheep.
64 Prime Bulls sold to 337ppk or £2617
32 Prime Steers sold to 334ppk or £2269
70 Prime Heifers sold to 357ppk or £2297
1651 Prime Lambs sold to 363ppk or £178
406 Cast Ewes & Rams sold to £170
Prime Bulls (64) – Bull trade absolutely wonderful, best bulls up again whilst the dairy breeds and crosses look every bit as dear as witnessed anywhere for quite some time, all in the average today is 291ppk and a massive £2014 per head. Top per kilo at 337 pence was a tremendous Limousin bull from W & M Knaggs & Son, East Newbiggin; plenty of other suckler bred bulls followed 310-330ppk whilst the bucket reared dairy crosses sold 280-310ppk dependent on weight and cover. A terrific trio from J A Matten & Sons, Avenue Grange dominated the gross values with all three over £2500 and topping at £2617 for a wonderful Limousin. Well over half of the bulls surpassed £2000, at least ten of which were first dairy crosses, of the half a dozen pure Friesian’s offered none could better a thumper from M A & P D Foster, Smithy House Farm at £1967 and 274ppk, the brilliant black and whites today averaged £1750 and 257ppk. See below some of the top pen averages.
W & M Knaggs & Son, Sadberge sold 2 to average 330ppk and £2341
J A Matten & Sons, Thirsk sold 3 to average 322ppk and £2582
L W Martin, Commondale sold 3 to average 320ppk and £2170
J J Horn, Richmond sold 2 to average 318ppk and £2348
L S Staley, Marwood sold 2 to average 318ppk and £2277
T W Clark & Son, Durham sold 3 to average 315ppk and £2097
F & J S Gargett, Barnard Castle sold 2 to average 310ppk and £2210
Continental Bulls – Top prices ppk337 325 W&M Knaggs & Son. 330 319 298 TW Clark & Son. 329 322 310 LW Martin. 328 309 LS Staley. 327 294 F&JS Gargett. 324 323 320 JA Matten & Sons. 323 314 JJ Horn. 308 295 DW Humphrey. 308 C Binks & Son. 305 293 R Hall & Son. 301 296 294 290 289 287 CH&SE Armstrong. 299 DH Lawson. 299×2 298 N White. 290 JA&A Herbert. 289 JK&CE Farming.
Lead Grossing Continental Bulls £2617 £2566 £2564 JA Matten & Sons. £2480 £2215 JJ Horn. £2400 £2153 LS Staley. £2392 £2291 W&M Knaggs & Son. £2386 DH Lawson. £2354 £2066 F&JS Gargett. £2279 £2227 £2218 N White. £2228 JK&CE Farming. £2215 £2207 £2187 £2122 £2050 CH&SE Armstrong. £2197 £2194 £2118 LW Martin. £2137 £2079 £2077 TW Clark & Son. £2105 JK&CE Farming. £2100 TW Clark & Son. £2026 DW Humphrey.
Friesian Bulls – Top prices ppk 274 268 249 MA&PD Foster. 252 249 GW Dobson & Son. 248 A&CA Stanwix.
Lead Grossing Friesian Bulls £1967 £1894 £1869 MA&PD Foster. £1648 £1539 GW Dobson & Son. £1579 A&CA Stanwix.
Native Bulls – Top prices ppk 289 279 SN Bird & Sons. 289 R Hall & Son. 287 282 279 275 272 269×2 263 CH&SE Armstrong. 264 JA&A Herbert.
Lead Grossing Native Bulls £2146 £2112 £2050 £2004 £1985 ££1971 £1969 £1935 CH&SE Armstrong. £2049 R Hall & Son. £1715 £1557 SN Bird & Sons. £1647 JA&A Herbert.
Clean Cattle (102) – Clean trade colossal, simply miles and miles ahead of other options in the area, steers averaged 299ppk and the hot heifers all in levelled at 332ppk. A delightful dozen heifers sold in the 350’s, of these the regular selling JV & JA Hodgson of The Grange produced five including the top pair, both Limousin’s at 357ppk. The consistent R Hirst, Neasham Grange knocked on the door with a trio in club 350 along with one each for P & N Tattersall, J Layfield, W A Armstrong and Cumbrian raider W Miller, High Aketon. Top of the steers per kilo was a superb handy weighted Limousin from Taylor Bros, Belle Isle Farm; I Marshall & Sons, Hope House Farm followed just a penny behind with T N Callender, Ox Eye Farm also involved heavily at the top of the steer leaderboard. On to the gross values, top of the heifers at £2297 came a terrific 690kg British Blue from W A Armstrong, Coxhoe; three other heifers selling over £2200 came from J E Suddes & Son, Rowley Farm and the prolific Hirst and Hodgson duo with a further twenty heifers also making top side of £2000. The steer standings on the gross value front belonged to some Cumbrian power, top of them all at £2269 was a thumping 764kg Charolais from Messrs R Miller Ltd, Arkleby Hall with D Hodgson, Croft Farm, Wigton not far adrift at £2208; ten more sold in the £2100’s as more from the Miller’s battled hard with the Marshall’s of Hope House and the Ridley’s of Dipton Foot. See below some superb pen averages.
Steers
I Marshall & Sons, Bishop Middleham sold 3 to average 325ppk and £2127
T N Callender, Whinney Hill sold 2 to average 325ppk and £1947
Taylor Bros, Richmond sold 4 to average 325ppk and £1798
Heifers
JV & JA Hodgson, Summerhouse sold 11 to average 346ppk and £2055
R Hirst, Neasham sold 11 to average 343ppk and £2034
W Miller, Wigton sold 7 to average 339ppk and £1843
P & N Tattersall, York sold 5 to average 333ppk and £1945
J Layfield, Willington sold 7 to average 333ppk and £1824
J E Suddes & Son, Cornsay Colliery sold 5 to average 331ppk and £1958
Steers – Top prices ppk 334 326 325 317 Taylor Bros. 333 330 328 320 319 I Marshall & Sons. 330 321 TN Callender. 316 299 WA Armstrong. 310 308 304 G&JY Marshall. 298 D Hodgson. 297 284 x2 283 280 Messrs R Miller Ltd. 292 280×2 276 RA&BA Ridley & Son Ltd. 285 280 A&CA Stanwix. 284 JR Spink.
Lead Grossing Steers £2269 £2194 £2142 £2141 £2130 32077 Messrs R Miller Ltd. £2208 D Hodgson. £2181 £2144 £2128 £2108 £2075 I Marshall & Sons. £2175 £2108 £1934 £1904 £1775 RA&BA Ridley & Son. £1974 A&CA Stanwix. £1956 £1938 TN Callender. £1850 £1823 WA Armstrong. £1830 £1809 £1778 £1777 Taylor Bros. £1758 £1739 G&JY Marshall.
Heifers – Top prices ppk 357×2 352 351 350 349 346 344 337 335 330 JV&JA Hodgson. 356 354×2 349 348 347 344 340 339 R Hirst. 355 340 328×2 P&N Tattersall. 352 348 344 335 J Layfield. 350 343 336 334 333 WA Armstrong. 350 347 344 340 338 332 W Miller. 348 346 336 JE Suddes & Son. 341 TN Callender. 335 I Marshall & Sons. 330×2 G&JY Marshall.
Lead Grossing Heifers £2297 £2099 £2046 £1991 £1913 £1910 WA Armstrong. £2228 £2197 JE Suddes & Son. £2224 £2184 £2124 £2123 £2117 £2096 £2069 £2000 JV&JA Hodgson. £2210 £2145 £2106 £2091 £2068 £2038 £2014 £1988 £1957 R Hirst. £2199 TN Callender. £2181 £1918 P&N Tattersall. £2146 A Swinbank & Son. £2018 J Layfield. £1989 G&JY Marshall. £1953 JB Bell & Son.
Prime Lambs (1651) – Lambs a touch easier to average an all in weighed straight 289ppk and £133.16 per head which still sits them a good 35 pence per kilo ahead of the same week last year. Weight continues to pay best with all buyers seemingly short of heavies each and every week; top of the tree today were three exceptional Beltex lambs from AWSM Farms which tipped the scales to 49kg and sold for £178 (363.3ppk). Others in the mix to top the prices per kilo were Cumbrian’s J C Hope & Son, Cornhow Farm with nine 40kg Beltex at 343 pence plus local sellers G Thompson & Sons, Softley Farm 344ppk and P J Tindale, Preston Tilery 340ppk. Top of the gross values were the wonderful AWSM trio at £178 as mentioned, three other vendors to break £170 were Nottinghamshire’s PR & V Barlow, Cotherstone’s WKMM Lamb and West Layton’s M J Blacklidge.
Lambs – Top prices ppk 363 314 310 308×2 307 306 AWSM Farms. 345 338 331 330×2 311 JC Hope & Son. 344 G Thompson & Sons. 340 326 315 306 PJ Tindale. 340 331 320 W.K M.M Lamb. 339 308 Redgate Grange. 326 MJ Blacklidge. 324 314 JA&A Herbert. 323 322 R Errington & Son. 322 310 309 PR&V Barlow. 322 I Hedley. 320×3 313 308 305 PJ&MP Gilhespy. 320 WR Thompson. 320 307 305 I Kirk. 315 JCW Taylor. 314 BR&RI Routledge.
Lead Grossing Lambs £178 £152 £151 AWSM Farms. £171 £155 PR&V Barlow & Son. £170 £154×2 £150 MJ Blacklidge. £169 £159 £154×3 PJ&MP Gilhespy. £169 £153×2 £152 DR Smith. £163 £152 £150 PJ Tindale. £160 £156 £152.50×2 £150.50 I Kirk. £158 £156 T Lawson & Son. £157 £156 £154.50 WR Thompson. £156 V Wilson. £155 G Thompson & Sons. £155 I Burn & Sons. £155×2 £150×3 D&PH Brown. £154 Redgate Grange. £151 C Moralee & Sons. £150 GS Bainbridge. £150 J Milbank & Sons.
Cast Ewes & Rams (406) – Cast sheep were unsurprisingly unable to sustain the furious trade we witnessed last week as the heavy lowland ewes drop back perhaps to more normal levels. Top of the day was a wonderful continental ewe from F & J S Gargett, Westwick Farm which sold for £170; other heavy continental ewes sold typically £120 to £150 on the day. Elsewhere Mule ewes peaked at £110, hill Cheviots at £81 and Swaledale’s at £48.
Lead Grossing Cast Sheep £170 £142 £134 £110 F&JS Gargett. £160 £134 D&PH Brown. £150 £120 GP Addison. £142 £135 M&A Gaskin. £140 £120 W.K M.M Lamb. £140 GF Whitfield. £140 JC Thwaite & Son. £140 £130 C Dawson. £136 A Pennell. £134 £132 £130 K&PM Lough. £130 R Herbert. £130 BR&RI Routledge. £130 D Barron. £130×2 £120 BA Swallow. £130 F Myers & Sons. £126 I Hedley.
