Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their ‘Stars of the Future’ Show and Sale of Store Cattle in conjunction with their weekly sale of Cast Cattle, Store and Breeding Stock. Forward were 640 Cattle and 175 Sheep.
128 Cast Cows and OTM sold to 236ppk or £2045
3 Stock Bulls sold to 194ppk or £2135
17 Breeding Cattle sold to £152080 Young Bulls sold to £1800
172 Store Steer sold to £1700
240 Store Heifers sold to £1400
8 Pet Lambs sold to £3822 Store Hoggs sold to £136
63 Feeding ewes sold to £145
59 Ewes with Lambs sold to £360
Show Cattle – Some tremendous quality this morning was presented before our judge Mr Will Hall who kindly made the journey to Darlington from East Yorkshire. A genuinely tough call in all classes however after much deliberation it was the familiar Stones Family of Nun Cote Nook Farm, Marrick who scooped the tri coloured rosette; a stretchy and shapely 10 month old red Limousin steer sired by the Marrick herd’s stock bull Haltcliffe Index, he went on to sell for £1600 to the judge. Reserve champion also went to the Limousin breed and the days 1st placed heifer from John Norman of Aysdale Gate Farm, Guisborough; the super sweet 12 month old sold to M Robinson & Sons, Staindrop for £1380. Rounding off a great day for the Limousin’s within the show was our 1st placed young bull from Matthew Lawson of Buddle House Farm, Richmond with a shapely youngster going on to sell to R & W Todd of Toft Hill for £1165.Best Steer1st K O Stones, Nun Cote Nook Farm sold for £1600 to R S Hall & Sons, Driffield (CHAMPION)
2nd T W & G Corner, Rye Close Farm sold for £1400 to J V & J A Hodgson, Summerhouse3rd Fristling Hall Farm Ltd, Essex sold for £1500 to M Robinson & Sons, Staindrop
Best Heifer
1st J Norman, Aysdale Gate Farm sold for £1380 to M Robinson & Sons, Staindrop (RESERVE)
2nd J E Jordon & Son, The Brocks sold for £1310 to M F Hall, Ponteland
3rd Fristling Hall Farm Ltd, Essex sold for £1400 to J V & J A Hodgson, Summerhouse
Best Young Bull
1st B R Lawson, Buddle House Farm sold for £1165 to R & W Todd, Toft Hill
2nd J R & M Richardson, Etherley House sold for £1285 to A G Watson & Sons, Rushyford
B R Lawson, Buddle House Farm sold for £1010 to J Brown, Thirsk
Store Cattle – A pleasing 38% increase in numbers this year for our annual April Show and Sale, the first lockdown may be partly responsible for the increased numbers however the headlines today will surely centre around the trade, absolutely amazing. The heifers today sold to average £957 which is a rise of £176 on the year, the steers averaged an obscene £1109 which believe it or not sees them up £233. So to the young bulls, a ridiculous statistic coming up, the young bulls today were up £330 on the same sale last year to level at £1086, granted the show was superb today and below average in 2020 however in itself a £330 rise must be a DFAM record. The top priced six bulls all came from L A & P L Ellis & Gottschalk of Valley View Farm, Waltham Abbey, Essex who made the long journey North very worthwhile with 17 extraordinarily good pure Limousin bulls, the sensational 12-15 month old’s sold to a top of £1800 with a magnificent average of £1370. Joining them in the high flying bull club were J R & M Richardson of Etherley House, Winston who sold 10 9 month old homebred Limousin’s to average £1307 and T L Holmes & Son, White House Farm, Craghead produced 5 fine British Blue yearling bulls to average £1286. The store cattle trade was bouncing from start to finish, a top run of 78 cattle from Fristling Hall Farm Ltd, Essex shone bright across the top price columns and returned with a sharp average of £1164, in the process topping both the heifers and the steers with a brut of a 34 month old Simmental steer at £1700 and an almost equally massive 20 month old South Devon heifer at £1400. The heavyweight South Devon cattle from the Essex outfit had steers reach £1600 whilst local consignors held their corner firmly as J D & M S Mortimer, Woodland peaked at £1535 with 18 month old Limousin steers. Of the yearling cattle today some fantastic returns were gratefully received by many, top runs of young local cattle from the Wilsons of Hollinside, Gilson’s of Quebec and Wards, Frosterley all stood out whilst the increasing DFAM family enjoyed fast trades for cattle from far and wide. A great day’s trading throughout as all roads again led to Darlington; already mentioned are the Essex consignors, a great showing from the Yorkshire and Durham regulars, an isolated Cumbrian raider plus a host of welcome vendors who joined us today from the North, special mention must go to the Newcastle-Upon-Tyne / Morpeth / Alnwick sellers today as a host of cattle from either side of the Roman wall were a pleasure to see.
Breeding Cattle – Cows & Calves £1520×2 C Parker. £1200 Fristling Hall Farm Ltd. £1150 DW Ogle. £1020 M Radford. £880 £820 High Harbour Farms.
Store Bulls £1800 £1495 £1490×2 £1465 £1390 £1340×6 £1335 £1270 £1190 £1185 £1155 LA&PL Ellis & Gottschalk. £1375 £1325 £1285 £1260 £1185 TL Holmes & Son. £1355 £1345×4 £1295 £1285×2 £1235×2 JR&M Richardson. £1195 JC Thwaite. £1180 Charlotte Burnett. £1165 £1135 £1010 BR Lawson. £1140 £1020 GW Dobson. £1075 £1045 £1025 DE Stones. £1055 GW Dent. £1055 C&M Burnett. £1000 £995×2 £990 £970×2 Frank Ward.
Store Steers £1700 £1600×2 £1580 £1550 £1510×2 £1500 £1490 £1450 £1400 £1390 £1380×2 £1360 £1320 £1290×3 £1180×3 Fristling Hall Farm Ltd. £1600 KO Stones. £1535 £1525 £1385×2 JD&MS Mortimer. £1440 £1275 £1195 J Gilson. £1400 £1355 TW&G Corner. £1340×2 GE Raw. £1330 £1260 K Sayer. £1325 £1215 Wilsons. £1300 N Wilson. £1290×2 £1185×2 GW&M Singleton & Sons. £1265×2 WC Barker & Son. £1265 J&MJ Walton. £1245×2 JC Thwaite. £1180 DG&PD Ayre. £1175 D Robson & Sons.
Store Heifers £1400 £1380×2 £1360 £1240 £1210 £1200×2 £1190 £1180 £1170×2 £1130×2 £1120 Fristling Hall Farms Ltd. £1380 £1255 J Norman. £1340 £1100×2 TT Hall & Son. £1330 Duell Partners. £1310 £1210 JE Jordon & Son. £1280×2 £1190 £1150 £1110 FE Pinkney. £1270 £1235 PM Beveridge. £1270 £1150 £1130 F Ward. £1250 C Binks & Son. £1250×2 N Medd & Son. £1230 £1215 J Gilson. £1225 £1190 £1140 £1115 WA Wardman Ltd. £1215 £1190 £1170 JG Wilkinson & Son. £1185 I&A Davison. £1175 K Sayer. £1165 DG&PD Ayre. £1135 GW&M Singleton & Sons. £1135 WB Rutter & Sons.
Cast Cows – Absolutely mesmerising, a stratospheric sale average of 160 pence per kilo and £1129, 17 cattle the top side of 200 pence per kilo, 2 over £2000 and a further 16 beyond £1500. A blue Monday as the British Blue ladies led the way, a sensational OTM heifer from A C Bentham, Fletcher Hill Farm selling for 236ppk and £2029 whilst leading the cow trade was a terrific 5 year old from Fristling Hall Farm Ltd, Essex at 228ppk and £2045. Behind these pair some remarkable returns for several beast worthy of topping any sale, Joshua Knaggs of Sadberge sold a Limousin OTM to 232ppk and £1811 whilst J L Marks of Bishopton’s British Blue OTM reached 234ppk. Top priced dairy cow went to a heavy Holstein from Redgate Dairy Farm, Wisbech, Lincolnshire realizing £1393 whilst a young milker from P Foster, Glaisdale sold for 178ppk. The native heroics this week came again from Fristling Hall with a remarkable 938kg 10 year old South Devon cow selling for 164ppk and £1538, a superb run of cows from the Essex firm today saw the 28 of them average 168ppk and £1280. Just the 3 stock bulls offered this week, between them they unbelievably averaged close to £1800 with the pick of them a superb 4 year old Limousin from W T Elstob & Son, White House Farm selling for £2135 and 194ppk.
Cast Cows & OTM – Leading PPK – 236 A C Bentham. 234 218 J L Marks. 232 Joshua Knaggs. 228 210 200 192 188 186(x2) 184 182 176(x2) 166 164(x4) Fristling Hall Farm Ltd. 226 196 M Gallon. 210 S Field. 210 T Coulthard & Son. 208 C & R Metcalf. 208 W & M Knaggs & Son. 208 184 178 J Dixon. 206 164 F Grieves. 206(x2) 180 R W Welford & Sons. 206 S & R E Williamson. 198 178 J E Jordon & Son. 186 M W Reed. 178 P Foster. 176 174 J R Clayton. 176 R G Richardson. 174 I Spedding. 168 R E Dickson. 166 A & A G Moralee. 166 J Richmond. 166 W A Wardman Ltd.
Stock Bulls – Leading PPK – 194 W T Elstob & Son. 184 C Parker. 154 D A Barrett & N Waller Barrett.
Cast Cows & OTM – Leading Gross – £2045 £1606 £1587 £1561 £1557 £1538 £1524 £1436 £1408 £1398 £1354 £1334 £1325 £1228 £1212 Fristling Hall Farm Ltd. £2029 A C Bentham. £1811 Joshua Knaggs. £1756 £1546 J E Jordon & Son. £1709 W & M Knaggs & Son. £1630 C & R Metcalf. £1600 T Coulthard & Son. £1595 £1580 J Dixon. £1488 £1410 J L Marks. £1487 £1424 M Gallon. £1439 S & R E Williamson. £1411 £1409 J R Clayton. £1393 Redgate Dairy Farm Ltd. £1381 S Field. £1376 J Richmond. £1342 J M Ramsay & Son. £1340 Wilsons. £1286 P D & J A Adamski. £1258 R E & B J Potter. £1254 J B & G E Hayward & Family. £1249 R E Dickson. £1218 M W Reed.
Stock Bulls – Leading Gross – £2135 W T Elstob & Son. £1843 C Parker. £1395 D A Barrett & N Waller Barrett.
Store & Breeding Sheep – Another very good trade ahead of next week’s special sale of ewes and lambs, the stand out offering today came from Messrs Fletcher & Coates of Short Thorns Farm, Weardale when they sold a smart Texel Shearling ewe with a single Beltex crossed tup lamb at foot for £360, her matching stable mate sold for £300 whilst those similar with twins sold beyond £100 per life. Mule ewes with twins today regulary £65-£75 per life as the sheep trade stays strong, earlier both feeding ewes and store hoggs met fierce competition between the buyers.
Ewes & Lambs – £360 £310 £300 £225 £195 £170 Fletcher & Coates. £260 K Hall. £250 £200 £180 Ainsty Farm Shop. £230 £225 £205 I Spedding. £228 £225 J J M Lonsdale.
Feeding Ewes – £145 £130 £125 £101 J M Shotton. £130 £123 £99 G H & R G Stobbs. £129 J Burbury. £115 N & M J Parkin. £115 P D & J A Adamski. £100 A Swinbank. £100 £99 £93 C Longstaff. £91 D Clarke.Store Hoggs – £136 J M Shotton. £96 £81 £61 G H & R G Stobbs. £88 J Burbury.
