Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of prime stock on Thursday 19th June 2025. Forward were 175 cattle and 1288 sheep.
63 Prime Bulls sold to 412ppk or £3709
16 Prime Steers sold to 430ppk or £2816
93 Prime Heifers sold to 480ppk or £2951
3 OTM sold to 364ppk or £2476
975 New Season Lambs sold to 440ppk or £212
126 Prime Hoggs sold to 356ppk or £210
187 Cast Ewes & Rams sold to £252
Prime Bulls (63) – Never mind the deadweight doom-mongers as the lively live ring shows them the good old fashioned Harvey Smith salute and jumps probably ten pence this week to average all in 368ppk and £2633 per head. Setting the pace were a superb quartet of Limousin bulls from A C Simpson & Son, McNeil Farm which sold to tops of 414ppk and £3709 with a wonderful pen average of over £3500. Seven other vendors sold bulls beyond £3000 whilst the dairy crosses would see possibly the biggest increase with 360-380ppk frequently achieved. Native breed bulls peaked at 373ppk and £2860 for a 14-month-old Aberdeen Angus down from R Neill & Partners, Jedburgh whilst the pure Friesian bulls were topped today by G W Dobson & Son, Wood Close at 304ppk and J R Spink, Hope House at £2217.
A few of today’s leading averages:
AC Simpson & Son sold 4 (876kg) average 404ppk & £3547
SH Watson & Son sold 2 (799kg) average 386ppk & £2987
F&JS Gargett sold 3 (780kg) average 382ppk & £2987
JJ Horn sold 2 (761kg) average 384ppk & £2924
JR Tiplady sold 3 (778kg) average 374ppk & £2913
Continental Bulls – Top prices ppk 414 410 401 397 AC Simpson & Son. 409 405 399 DW Humphrey. 399 391 JR Knox & Son. 398 392 380×2 S&J Dent & Son. 397 R Neill & Partners. 394 378 370 368 366WA Wardman Ltd. 393 380 SH Watson & Son. 392 388 370 F&JS Gargett. 390 JE Jordon & Son. 388 381 JJ Horn. 386 370 J Murray. 384 369 JK&CE Farming. 380 374 373 CH&SE Armstrong. 376 375 372 JR Tiplady.
Lead Grossing Continental Bulls £3709 £3521 £3480 £3477 AC Simpson & Son. £3124 £3048 £2568 JR Tiplady. £3111 £3078 £2771 F&JS Gargett. £3097 £3081 SH Watson & Son. £3074 £2774 JJ Horn. £3056 £2781 £2733 DW Humphrey. £3041 R Neill & Partners. £3006 £2682 JK&CE Farming. £2978 £2737 WA Wardman Ltd. £2864 £2752 JR Knox & Son. £2766 R Hall & Son. £2758 £2633 S&J Dent & Son. £2737 £2713 £2602 CH&SE Armstrong. £2671 P Langstaff.
Native Bulls – Top prices ppk 373 352 R Neill & Partners. 370 346 R Hall & Son. 336 326 CH&SE Armstrong.
Lead Grossing Native Bulls £2860 £2622 R Neill & Partners. £2763 £2435 R Hall & Son. £2177×2 CH&SE Armstrong.
Friesian Bulls – Top prices ppk 304 300 GW Dobson & Son. 296 284 JR Spink. 290 CH&SE Armstrong.
Lead Grossing Friesian Bulls £2217 £1880 JR Spink. £2025 £1957 GW Dobson & Son. £1925 CH&SE Armstrong.
OTM – Top prices ppk 364 360 328 JR Tiplady.
Lead Grossing OTM £2476 £2358 £2318 JR Tiplady.
Clean Cattle (109) – A similar story to the bulls as the clean beef trade takes absolutely no notice of the price slashing deadweight highwaymen; way less of the posh sorts up at the top mattered little as all classes were in demand to see the steers average 394ppk and the heifers 426ppk. Top per kilo by a whisker at 480 pence was a cracking 597kg Limousin heifer from W Swinbank & Sons, Greystones, Caldwell. Following the leader were a fine pair from R Hirst, Neasham at 479 and 478ppk with J V & J A Hodgson checking in at 478ppk followed by I Marshall & Sons at 477ppk just ahead of another great trio from the Hirst’s. Two steers shared the top spot per kilo at 430 pence as a tidy British Blonde from B W & A O Manners, High Weetslade matched a lovely Limousin from the Askwiths of Crook. The hot heifers enjoyed the top spots on our gross value lists this week, another great sort from W Swinbank & Sons, Greystones led the way at 653kg and £2951 and once again nudged the Hirst’s of Neasham Grange in to second spot at £2911. Following next at £2902 was a fleshy sort from W L Robinson & Partners whereas the top steer in the lump was the aforementioned cracker from the Askwiths when he added up to £2816.
A few of the days leading averages:
W Swinbank & Sons sold 5 (614kg) average 458ppk & £2814
WL Robinson & Partners sold 2 (716kg) average 391ppk & £2803
R Hirst sold 13 (590kg) average 459ppk & £2715
I Marshall & Sons sold 8 (585kg) average 454ppk & £2660
JRP Vickers & Sons sold 2 (593kg) average 430ppk & £2601
Steers – Top prices ppk 430 415 394 370×2 366 BW&AO Manners. 430 428 416 Askwiths. 412 401×2 355 LW Martin. 402 JV&JA Hodgson. 344 CH&SE Armstrong.
Lead Grossing Steers £2816 £2734 £2704 Askwiths. £2576 JV&JA Hodgson. £2556 £2528 £2353 £2294 £2198 BW&AO Manners. £2438 £2414 £2236 £2233 LW Martin. £2401 CH&SE Armstrong.
Heifers – Top prices ppk 480 473 459 452 428 W Swinbank & Sons. 479 478 476 475×2 466 460 458 457 453 451 R Hirst. 478 467 466 458 452 440 437 JV&JA Hodgson. 477 473 465 454 450×2 442 I Marshall & Sons. 473 464 Askwiths. 465 454 BJS Farms. 465 452 WO Grix & Partners. 460 LR Welsh & Co. 458 Rebecca Appleton. 456 JRP Vickers & Sons. 447 JE Suddes & Son. 446 BW&AO Manners. 445 JE Jordon & Son. 441 TW Clark & Son.
Lead Grossing Heifers £2951 £2885 £2865 £2763 W Swinbank & Sons. £2911 £2874 £2872 £2854 £2836 £2830 £2746 £2674 £2645 £2640 R Hirst. £2902 £2704 WL Robinson & Partners. £2881 £2866 £2745 £2682 I Marshall & Sons. £2801 AC Bentham. £2772 £2754 JV&JA Hodgson. £2753 £2696 DP Wood. £2738 W&O Grix. £2686 JRP Vickers & Sons. £2658 Askwiths. £2645 TW Clark & Son. £2627 CH&SE Armstrong. £2626 £2613 LR Welsh & Co.
New Season Lambs (975) – A magnificent day for the heavy weights and best shapes as the top 290 lambs traded beyond 400 pence per kilo and 50 sailed over £200 per head. The straight weighed sale averages this week of £163.38 and 372 pence per kilo included several runs of early drawn grass-fed lambs out of Mules as in reality most vendors would be £10-£12 up on what looked a very sharp shot last week. A pair of fantastic 42kg Beltex lambs from J V & J A Hodgson, The Grange led the prices per kilo at 440 pence, the same good home then followed at 40kg and 422ppk with the weekly runs from both J C Simpson, Hill Top East and AWSM Farms, Hutton Magna both in hot pursuit. The Simpson sorcery was there to be shot at in the gross value standings however nobody quite hit the target as a proper pen of eight weighing 54kg led the day at £212. Further joy for the on-song Simpson lambs at £209 ahead of Cole Hill Farm Ltd at £206 and both S Bell of Lough Head, Carlisle and local girl Anna Herbert who both achieved £205.
Some of the leading averages are listed below.
Cole Hill Farm sold 47 average 49kg (392p) £193.15
J C Simpson sold 159 average 46kg (409p) £189.13
Anna Herbert sold 7 average 49kg (369p) £181.29
S Bell sold 31 average 45kg (394p) £180.48
I & A Holmes sold 48 average 47kg (364p) £173.77
J G Hall sold 24 average 45kg (375p) £170.92
JV & JA Hodgson sold 26 average 43kg (393p) £170.46
AWSM Farms sold 55 average 42kg (401p) £169.22
Lambs – Top Prices ppk 440 422 404 400 392 390 387 JV&JA Hodgson. 420 419 418 415 413 412 411×3 410 409 406×2 404×2 402 392 JC Simpson. 419 409 401 400 395 AWSM Farms. 418 404 402 400 390 S Bell. 412 404 400 392 386 Cole Hill farm Ltd. 407×2 402 400 390 JA&A Herbert. 402 C Binks & Son. 400 RS Hall & Sons. 389 M&J Smith. 386 BR&RI Routledge. 384 D&PH Brown.
Lead Grossing Lambs £212 £209 £202 £201 £197×2 £194×2 £187 £183 £182 £184×4 £180 £179 JC Simpson. £206 £200×2 £198×2 £193 Cole Hill Farm Ltd. £205 £184 £182 Anna Herbert. £205 £196 £190 £177 S Bell. £200 D&PH Brown. £200 £190 £185 £180 JV&JA Hodgson. £196 T Lawson & Son. £189 £185 RS Hall & Sons. £187 £181 C Binks & Son. £187 M&J Smith. £183 £177 Craven Farms. £180 3177 £175×2 £174 I&A Holmes. £179 D Newman. £176 AWSM Farms.
Prime Hoggs (126) – The heavy hoggs bulldoze their way through June to see a remarkable sale average today of £164.26 per head. Some absolute thumpers again from R H Thompson & Son, Whins Farm led the way with a remarkable sixty-one from this home averaging £189.18 apiece to a tremendous top of £210 with some at 90kg. The only others to challenge the Thompson titans were a pen of clipped Wensleydale tup hoggs from J Shadforth, Crook Foot Farm which reached £194.
Hoggs – Top Prices ppk 356 334 311 306 303 300 277 269 262 245 244 233×2 231 RH Thompson & Son. 326 240 D Kirtley. 304 RA Patterson & Son. 300 287 267 BW&AO Manners. 300 F Hare & Sons. 276 266 R Nattrass & Sons. 256 231 WA Wardman Ltd. 231 J Shadforth.
Lead Grossing Hoggs £210×2 £201 £194×4 £192 £188 £184×3 £182×2 RH Thompson & Son. £194 J Shadforth. £180 F Hare & Sons. £170 £106 D Kirtley. £167 £150×2 BW&AO Manners. £160 £138 R Nattrass & Sons. £160 £156 £118 WA Wardman Ltd. £149 RA Patterson & Son.
Cast Ewes & Rams (187) – With everything else a flying trade the old aged pensioners certainly didn’t let the side down as they too excelled themselves across the board. The sale averaged a very healthy £159.61. Top of the day was a monstrous Texel ewe from D & P H Brown, Cordilleras Farm selling for £252. Following at £250 were four Texels from J Hird, Thornley Close ahead of thirteen from AWSM Farms at £226 and then both Anna Herbert with aTexel and J Shadforth with Wensleydale X BFL at £222. Top of the tups at £201 were a trio of heavy Wensleydales also from J Shadforth whilst the mind-boggling Mules topped at £189 for sixteen from W A Wardman Ltd, Thrushwood and averaged a superb £136.75.
Lead Grossing Cast Sheep £252 £202 £192 £177 £172 D&PH Brown. £250 £140 J Hird. £226 £196 £178 £169 AWSM Farms. £222 £204 £201 Anna Herbert. £222 £201 J Shadforth. £208 £160 WE Frank & Son. £206 £166 £164 JA&A Herbert. £197 A&EJ Dobinson. £190 JV&JA Hodgson. £189 £171 £150 WA Wardman Ltd. £188 £160 £130 £128 BR&RI Routledge. £186 £180 RS Hall & Sons. £184 £181 J Hird. £172 RA Patterson & Son. £168 C Binks & Son. £161 MJ Blacklidge. £160 F Hare & Sons.
