Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their ‘Big Bank Holiday’ Show and Sale of Store Cattle in conjunction with the weekly sale of cast cattle, store and breeding stock on Bank Holiday Monday 28th August 2023. Forward were 220 Cattle and 794 Sheep.
37 Cast Cows & OTM sold to 280ppk or £1761
9 Stock Bulls sold to 218ppk or £2175
8 Cows & Calves sold to £1540
12 Young Bulls sold to £1090
71 Store Steers sold to £1580
74 Store Heifers sold to £2200
752 Store Lambs sold to £119
42 Feeding Ewes/Rams sold to £106
Show Cattle – Traditionally this show throws up a few superstars and today was no exception, the judging duties fell upon the capable young shoulders of Elliot Grieves, Whinney Hill and few could doubt that he certainly found the best as his prize winners. The Champion ticket went to an absolutely sublime 16-month-old British Blue crossed heifer from Startforth based T & C Smith, she duly went on to top the sale at a wonderful £2200. Picking up the Reserve Championship were serial winners G C & K J White & Son of Rigg Farm with their smart 15-month-old Limousin crossed steer. Strong showings from the Walton’s of West Shotton and G W Dent, The Bungalow kept the trail blazing Smith and White pens on their toes whilst C Moffett, Backandsides Farm cleaned up the young bull prizes.
Best Heifer
1st T & C Smith, Thorsgill Farm, Startforth sold for £2200
2nd T & C Smith, Thorsgill Farm, Startforth sold for £1650
3rd G C & K J White & Son, Rigg Farm, Lunedale sold for £1500
Best Steer
1st G C & K J White & Son, Rigg Farm, Lunedale sold for £1580
2nd J & M J Walton, West Shotton Farm, Staindrop sold for £1460
3rd G W Dent, The Bungalow, Cockfield sold for £1400
Best Young Bull
1st C Moffett, Backandsides Farm, Hummerbeck sold for £920
2nd C Moffett, Backandsides Farm, Hummerbeck sold for £945
3rd C Moffett, Backandsides Farm, Hummerbeck sold for £785
Champion
T & C Smith – Heifer
Reserve Champion
G C & K J White & Son – Steer
Store Cattle – Unsurprisingly the show winner grabs this week’s headlines, putting her aside the trade for all shapes and sizes proved to be absolutely outstanding, one of the best ever witnessed. The steers throughout averaged a brilliant £1166 with the heifers not far adrift at £1120; some 37 active accounts operating at ringside meant that many more could have easily sold to vendor advantage. Away from the show cattle it was a fine day for R J Bradshaw of Hawthorne Farm, Ellerby who sold Aberdeen Angus crossed steers to £1520 and Hereford’s to £1450 and chasing the brilliant Smith’s of Thorsgill in the heifer standings were a magical pair of British Blue’s from D & M Lowes, Barningham realising £1580 apiece. Best of the young bulls proved to be an 11-month-old Limousin from I Newton & Son, Gibbet Hill Farm selling for £1090 with a tidy Charollais from T T Hall & Son, Church Farm sitting just £20 behind him. A genuine run of dairy bred Aberdeen Angus heifers with young British Blue crossed calves at foot from Ivanhoe Livestock Partnership earlier in the day had peaked at £1540.
Leading Prices
Heifers & Calves – £1540 £1520 £1480 £1420(x2) £1260 £1180 £1150 Ivanhoe Livestock Partnership.
Young Bulls – £1090 I Newton & Son. £1070 T T Hall & Son. £945 £920 £790(x2) £785 £685 C Moffett.
Store Steers – £1580 G C & J K White & Son. £1520(x2) £1450 £1440 £1430 £1390(x2) £1385 £1270(x2) £1260 R J Bradshaw. £1470 £1360 £1340 G H & R G Stobbs. £1460 £1440 £1300 J & M J Walton. £1400 £1300 G W Dent. £1385 £1355 £1340 T W & G Corner. £1380 £1280 £1270 D & M Lowes. £1315(x2) R Morrell. £1300 S J Love.
Store Heifers – £2200 £1660 £1650 T & C Smith. £1580(x2) £1470(x2) £1250 D & M Lowes. £1500 G C & K J White & Son. £1430 £1315 £1240 G H & R G Stobbs. £1340 £1270 S J Love. £1330 £1260 £1225 I Oliver. £1260(x2) £1190(x4) W B Rutter & Sons. £1210(x2) £1185(x5) R Morrell.
Cast Cattle – Short of numbers on the Bank Holiday, those forward were of fair quality on the whole and enjoyed an excellent trade as is often the case with processors keen to have beef in front of them on the Tuesday of a four-day week. The forty-six over the scale today averaged a massive £1238 per head and 186.6 pence per kilo. Three stunning heifers aged between 37 and 40 months from D & M Lowes, Wilson House, Barningham led the prices per kilo selling between 270 and 280 pence, the winner a sweet 533kg Limousin just ahead of two British Blue’s. We quickly change from Lowes to Bowes to find our top gross valued cows, a superb run of well fleshed sorts from W J & A S Bowes & Sons, Stainton Hill House Farm dominated with the top three between £1678 and £1761, the leader a lovely 823kg British Blue. Milk cows were few and far between, the best was comfortably a 7-year-old Montbelliarde cow from H M Dent, Morton Tinmouth which sold for 164ppk and £1136. The battle of the bulls was a close one, top per kilo at 218 pence went to a 34-month-old Limousin from W J Smith & Partners, Belle Isle Farm; two bull sat tuppence adrift including an excellent 5-year-old British Blonde from P Weightman & Sons, Hallfield Farm which proved to be the top gross valued bull at a pleasing £2175.
Cast Cows/OTM Leading PPK – 280 276 270 D & M Lowes. 264 240 218 M Robinson & Sons. 216 214 194 184 W J & A S Bowes & Sons. 206 194 G Bolton. 198 J Atkinson. 196 Stevens & Son. 192 Tallentire. 184 N Wilson. 184 182 D & P H Brown. 182(x2) 180 A Wilson. 180 G Nelson. 178 N & A Hunter. 178 J P Phelan.
Stock Bulls Leading PPK – 218 W J Smith & Partners. 216 P Weightman & Sons. 216 L R Welsh & Co. 212 206 194 W Walker & Sons. 160 A Wilson. 158 J Norman. 148 Stevens & Son.
Cast Cows/OTM Leading Gross – £1761 £1689 £1678 £1572 W J & A S Bowes & Son. £1653 £1574 £1492 D & M Lowes. £1422 Tallentire. £1387 £1186 £1097 A Wilson. £1353 £1296 £1028 M Robinson & Sons. £1338 J Atkinson. £1330 £1197 D & P H Brown. £1285 Stevens & Son. £1229 N Wilson. £1189 N & A Hunter. £1139 G Nelson. £1136 H M Dent. £1088 L R Welsh & Co.
Stock Bulls Leading Gross – £2175 P Weightman & Sons. £1857 W J Smith & Partners. £1818 L R Welsh & Co. £1774 Stevens & Son. £1621 £1509 £1489 W Walker & Sons. £1298 J Norman.
Store Sheep – With grass aplenty the store lamb trade just goes from strength to strength, a super trade this week with a sale average over £85. A fine pair of Texel lambs from Michael Hogg, The Brae topped the sale when reaching £119 apiece, five more from the same good home sold for £115 with a smart pen of nine Beltex from M Radford, East Underhurth Farm best of the rest at £113. Strong sorts from W M Bainbridge. Bogg House Farm led the Suffolk lamb prices at £108 whilst feeding ewes also remain a good go topping at £106 from D Rutter, Ingleby Greenhow.
Leading Prices
Texel – £119 £115 M Hogg. £107 H Foster. £105 £88.50 £85 R A Patterson. £105 £97 T E Dobson. £98.50 £94.50 B R Lawson. £97.50 T James. £97 £96 G E Raw. £96 £89 K Raine. £95 J Jopling. £94 Luke Turnbull. £88 A Naisbitt. £87 M Radford. £86.50 £86 H M & J S Hutchinson. £85.50 W K Wilkinson & Sons. £85 D Rutter.
Beltex – £113 M Radford. £94 £90 D & J A Teasdale.
Suffolk – £108 £100 £90 W M Bainbridge. £89 £84 J H Johnson.
Dutch Spotted – £104(x2) M Radford.
Feeding Ewes – £106 £92 £77 £54 D Rutter. £104 £99 £96 £66 A Naisbitt. £100 £96 £69 £65 J V Hodgson & Son. £90 M Hogg. £74 P & A R Jopling.
