Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of Primestock on Thursday 5th May 2022. Forward were 246 Cattle, 1261 Sheep and 5 Pigs.
107 Prime Bulls sold to 268ppk or £2734
45 Prime Steers sold to 280ppk or £2141
93 Prime Heifers sold to 313ppk or £1918
1 Cast Cow sold for 234ppk and £1712
105 New Season Lambs sold to 377ppk or £166
860 Prime Hoggs sold to 347ppk or £200
296 Cast Ewes & Rams sold to £245
5 Prime Pigs sold to 110ppk or £91
Prime Bulls (107) – More forward and trade following the trend nationally and easing, thus said a sale average of 234ppk remains very competitive. A photo finish this week as remarkably fifteen good bulls all sold between 260ppk and 268ppk, over the line in the lead was a superb Limousin from W I Suddes & Son, Cornsay with a strong representation from both local and travelled bulls hot on their heels. Some real quality and weight arrived from Scotland this morning and it was they who amazingly landed our top eleven gross values, all of which were over £2000; with the exception of two Dunblane vendors D M Lyle with a 16-month-old Charolais and a terrific 38-month-old British Blue from R & M Patterson the remaining 9 top gross values were all Limousin’s fed in Stirlingshire. Four from John Burnett & Sons, Upper Spittalton and three from D & L Graham, Mains of Burbank impressed but were outshone by a mammoth 1032kg bull from Grahams the Family Dairy, Airthrey Kerse when he reached £2734. In contrast to the continentals the dairy bred bulls lost no ground on last week’s flyer as they remained a superb trade, an excellent Friesian from J E & B Morgan & Sons, Bishop Middleham set the pace at 232ppk and £1642 whilst the pick of the native breeds were Aberdeen Angus from yet another marauding Stirlingshire seller as J Rettie sold to 227ppk and £1806. Below are some of the top bull contenders of the day.
Grahams the Family Dairy, Stirling sold 2 Bulls to average 265ppk and £2575
D & L Graham, Stirling sold 3 Bulls to average 258ppk and £2269
A G Watson & Sons, Rushyford sold 6 Bulls to average 255ppk and £1914
R & R Contracting, Kelso sold 6 Bulls to average 254ppk and £1588
W I Suddes & Son, Cornsay sold 4 Bulls to average 253ppk and £1375
J Burnett & Sons, Stirling sold 4 Bulls to average 252ppk and £2320
Continental Bulls – Top prices ppk 268 260×2 WI Suddes & Son. 265×2 Grahams Family Dairy. 264×2 250 D&L Graham. 264 261×2 253×2 AG Watson & Sons. 260 J&A Moralee. 260×3 252 249 247 R&R Contracting. 260 254 252 WM Dick & Sons. 257 JF Gibson & Son. 256 255 254 246 J Burnett & Sons. 255 WM Fleming. 254 G Corner. 251 245 S&J Dent & Son. 250 C&JC Stephenson. 249 R&M Paterson. 250 LS Staley. 247 JK&CE Farming. 245 K Trotter. 244 R McCulloch.
Lead Grossing Continental Bulls £2734 £2416 Grahams Family Dairy. £2463 £2410 £2265 £2143 J Burnett & Sons. £2437 £2199 £2172 D&L Graham. £2151 R&M Paterson. £2003 £1867 £1844 DM Lyle. £1993 £1983 £1907 £1889 £1863 £1850 AG Watson & Sons. £1987 LS Staley. £1983 R&P McAlister. £1978 £1783 WM Dick & Sons. £1967 C&JC Stephenson. £1948 £1832 R McCulloch. £1918 J&A Moralee. £1820 WM Fleming.
Friesian Bulls – Top prices ppk 232 198 JE&B Morgan & Sons. 220 JK&CE Farming. 215 210×2 207 200 198 197 JM&S Walton. 199 154 GW Dobson & Son. 186 185 179 157 C&M Atkinson & Sons.
Lead Grossing Friesian Bulls £1642 JE&B Morgan & Sons. £1462 £1369 £1339 £1258 £1253 £1222 £1205 JM&S Walton. £1109 C&M Atkinson & Sons.
Native Breed Bulls – Top prices ppk 227 219 J Rettie. 226 WM Dick & Sons. 220 JF Gibson & Son. 220 W&R Kemp & Son. 210 R Hall & Son.
Lead Grossing Native Breed Bulls £1806 J Rettie. £1758 WM Dick & Sons. £1379 W&R Kemp & Son. £1322 JF Gibson & Son. £1215 R Hall & Son.
Prime Clean Cattle (138) – As with the bulls the buyers showed some resistance at the top end of the spectrum but an incredibly tight chasing pack could be found sitting very closely behind the few special ones, countless heifers today sold in the 280ppk to 300ppk bracket and the fleshy heavy steers continue to add up nicely. Sale averages of steers 242ppk and heifers 271ppk with the whole show levelling at £1628 apiece. Regular sellers W A Armstrong of Coxhoe and J V & J A Hodgson of Summerhouse between them produced two thirds of the top nine prices per kilo but somehow missed out on the podium places; R Hirst, Neasham and W & M Knaggs & Son, Sadberge were separated by a penny in bronze and silver positions but the runaway winner this week was Caldwell based W Swinbank & Sons with a sensational 554kg Limousin heifer selling for 313 pence to H Taylor & Sons Butchers, Darlington. We head back North of the border to present our leading steer per kilo award this week as W M Fleming, Moss Tower, Kelso produced a British Blue at 280 pence, closest of the rest were J & A Moralee, Bardon Mill and B W & A O Manners of Dudley, Newcastle Upon Tyne. Two steers led by quite a margin on the gross value list, the aforementioned steer from Messrs Manners added up to a whopping £2123 however for the second week running it was a cracker from J E Suddes & Son, Cornsay Colliery which topped the sale at an impressive £2141. Over 30 heifers today sold over £1700, of these just four broke £1800 and one stand out performer led the field at £1918, the vendors responsible for the 735kg Limousin were I Marshall & Sons, Hope House Farm, Bishop Middleham. As is customary below are listed some of the successful sellers.
Heifers
Askwiths, Crook sold 3 Heifers to average 286ppk and £1585
R Hirst, Neasham sold 10 Heifers to average 283ppk and £1661
W Swinbank & Sons, Caldwell sold 6 Heifers to average 281ppk and £1703
W A Armstrong, Coxhoe sold 12 Heifers to average 278ppk and £1668
J E Suddes & Son, Cornsay Colliery sold 6 Heifers to average 277ppk and £1638
I Marshall & Son, Bishop Middleham sold 3 Heifers to average 275ppk and £1832
Steers
J E Suddes & Son, Cornsay Colliery sold 3 Steers to average 266ppk and £1879
W M Fleming, Kelso sold 6 Steers to average 259ppk and £1711
Askwiths, Crook sold 2 Steers to average 259ppk and £1626
I Marshall & Son, Bishop Middleham sold 2 Steers to average 275ppk and £1832
Steers – Top prices ppk 280 269 264 258 247 WM Fleming. 276 J&A Moralee. 273 BW&AO Manners. 271 WM Dick & Sons. 271 W Swinbank & Sons. 270 269 260 JE Suddes & Son. 267 265 258 250 GC&JC Pullan. 266 254 Askwiths. 264 J Gilson. 260 254 I Marshall & Sons. 250 RO Gilson. 239 James Gilson. 233 GW&L Marsay.
Lead Grossing Steers £2141 £1906 JE Suddes & Son. £2123 £1771 £1706 £1648 BW&AO Manners. £1906 £1764 £1656 GC&JC Pullan. £1901 £1766 £1752 £1674 WM Fleming. £1807 WM Dick & Sons. £1794 £1652 RO Gilson. £1778 £1704 I Marshall & Sons. £1703 GC&JC Pullan. £1689 J&A Moralee. £1646 TN Hodgson & Sons.
Heifers – Top prices ppk 313 290 W Swinbank & Sons. 304 W&M Knaggs & Son. 303 288 287 286 284 281 280 R Hirst. 300 299×2 290 284 283 279 WA Armstrong. 298 295 292 285×2 279×2 JV&JA Hodgson. 291 287 283 Askwiths. 290 I Marshall & Son. 286 JE Suddes & Son. 282 278 WF Hustwit. 282 279 276 JE Suddes & Son. 281 K&J Heslop. 279 M&J Cheesbrough. 275 W Henderson.
Lead Grossing Heifers £1918 £1800 £1778 I Marshall & Sons. £1827 £1788 £1721 W Henderson. £1818 £1782 W&M Knaggs & Son. £1779 £1770 £1743 £1734 £1719 £1705 JV&JA Hodgson. £1777 £1776 £1741 JE Suddes & Son. £1769 £1740 £1725 £1720 £1719 £1703 WA Armstrong. £1762 £1745 R Hirst. £1754 £1677 £1674 JJ Kemp & Son. £1734 £1709 £1705 £1703 W Swinbank & Sons. £1718 M&J Cheesbrough & Sons.
Cast Cows – Top prices ppk 234 J Gilson.
Lead Grossing Cast Cows £1712 J Gilson.
Prime Lambs (105) – Good lambs are indeed a very good trade with the top three vendors I Burn & Sons, Stamfordham (8 sold), W & M Knaggs & Son, Sadberge (27 sold) and Wytherstone Farms, Skiplam (26 sold) averaging £149, £147 and £141 respectively. Plainer lambs at this time before the wholesaler’s switch are still selling at hogg price which in itself is more than healthy. The star of today’s show and keeping the Beltex out for a change was a fabulous British Rouge lamb from W & M Knaggs & Son, Sadberge weighing 44kg and selling for £166 (377ppk).
New Season Lambs- Top Prices PPK 377 363 360 357 325 318 281 W&M Knaggs & Son. 350 339 328 318 306 I Burn & Son. 333 320 308 Wytherstone Farm. 331 326 318 M Barley. 323 Anna Herbert. 322 307 J Clark.
Lead Grossing New Season Lambs – £166 £160 £155 £150 £140 £135 W&M Knaggs & Son. £161 £150 £148 £146 £140 I Burn & Son. £148 £141 £140 Wytherstone Farm. £140 £139 £137 M Barley. £138 A&EJ Dobinson.
Prime Hoggs (860) – Dearer again as the better bred and handy weights are in very high demand, as always weighed absolutely straight the sale average returned at 262ppk with an SQQ of 279ppk. After a fortnight sharing the top price per kilo it was solo glory today for the Callender family of Whinney Hill who’s terrific quartet of 40 kg Beltex led the trade at 347 pence. Top gross value was something a little special, a truly outstanding 82kg Texel tup hogg from J P Floyd, Whitby sold for £200, the more normal runs of big hoggs once again largely sold £140 to £145. As always, our hill bred hogg supporters were here in force, this week’s best a pen of 29 Scotch Blackface hoggs weighing 39kg from P Turnbull, Kildale which sold for £112.
Hoggs – Top prices ppk 347 333×3 322 302 300 294 289 283 282×2 TN Callender. 340 333 331 300 295×2 293 290×2 PJ&MP Gilhespy. 318 JD Brannen. 311 296 WE Frank & Son. 310 295 JE Braithwaite & Son. 302 300 298×2 297 292×2 291 289 PR&V Barlow & Son. 300 J Butterfield & Son. 297 287 RE&L Frank. 294 WA Wardman Ltd. 289 GP&A Carter. 287 DA Gill. 287 284 JR&AR Wall. 287 285 P Turnbull. 286 L&S Barker. 282 JH&D Wise.
Lead Grossing Hoggs £200 JP Floyd. £165 £140 JM&S Walton. £150 £140×2 £139 £138.50 £135.50 £135 £133 TN Callender. £150 £149 £144 ££142 £141 £140×3 £138 £136×3 £134×2 AC Simpson & Son. £145 JA&A Herbert. £145 £139 JR&AR Wall. £140 £139.50 £139 PJ&MP Gilhespy. £142 £140 C Binks & Son. £140 £139×2 £137.50×2 PR&V Barlow & Son. £139 £137 J Pallister & Sons. £134 JD Brannen. £134 JH&D Wise.
Cast Ewes & Rams (296) – Less forward with trade still exceptional even after last weeks EID celebrations are done and dusted. A super sale average of £112. Top price this week went to C S & V Whitfield of High Castledene, Knitsley with a terrific Beltex X Texel ewe which sold for £245, a further ten ewes sold over £200 with forty more above £150. The bigger Mule ewes still sold £110 to £120 whilst the fit horned ewes sold £70 to £80.
Lead grossing cast sheep- £245 £232 £200 £160 £140 C S&V Whitfield. £220 £178 Askwiths. £182 CA Knaggs. £180 £178 £165 JP Floyd. £180 JV Hodgson & Son. £160 £150 £140 W&M Knaggs & Son. £150 £138 PJ&MP Gilhespy. £151 CM Cameron. £150 £140 JA&A Herbert. £148 £134 £130 AC Simpson & Son.
Pigs (5) – Alas the great Darlington pig boom was short lived as numbers fell by an alarming 80%!
Trade is on the mend and statistics show today that for the first time since 2018 pig farmers are now less likely to be depressed than Manchester City fans, who would have thought it.
Pigs – Top Prices Ppk – 110 105 J Mitchell & Son.
Lead Grossing Pigs – £90 £91 J Mitchell & Son.
