Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of prime stock on Thursday 2nd November 2023. Forward were 193 cattle, 1476 sheep and 7 pigs.
66 Prime Bulls sold to 314ppk or £2436
12 Prime Steers sold to 328ppk or £1977
115 Prime Heifers sold to 344ppk or £2212
1116 Prime Lambs sold to 333ppk or £159
360 Cast Ewes & Rams sold to £164
7 Prime Pigs sold to 200ppk or £156
Prime Bulls (66) – A lighter show of numbers helped trade lift on the week as the whole sale averaged 266 pence per kilo. The top spot at 314 pence went to regular Cumbrian crusaders T N & J Hall of Ainstable Hall with an excellent 632kg home bred Limousin, a further fourteen sold over 300 pence per kilo including great bulls from two vendors at 310ppk who were J Layfield, Willington and JH & M & NW Brown, Darlington. Of the sixteen bulls selling over £2000 today the top six were all over £2300 and consisted of two apiece for the aforementioned three vendors; best of the lot a perfectly fed Limousin from the Layfield pen reached the days high of £2436. Friesian bragging rights this week belong to G W Dobson & Son, Wood Close Farm, South Wingate with their best 228ppk and £1630. Averages below for our three dominant vendors this week.
T N & J Hall, Ainstable sold 4 to average 307ppk and £2201
J H & M & N W Brown, Darlington sold 4 to average 307ppk and £2137
J Layfield, Willington sold 5 to average 293ppk and £2170
Continental Bulls – Top prices ppk 314 308×2 300 TN&J Hall. 310×2 306 304 JH&M&NW Brown. 310 307 306 300 J Layfield. 309 306 294 292 282 275 272 M&G Chantrell Ltd. 307 276 264×2 TW Clark & Son. 296 287 271 GK KN & GJ Hird. 291 TF Bothroyd. 280 WJ&AS Bowes & Sons. 276 267 266 J Greenheld & Son. 260 WC Stones. 259 JA&A Herbert.
Lead Grossing Continental Bulls £2436 £2422 £2203 £1897 31894 J Layfield. £2388 £2344 £2127 £2082 £1974 TW Clark & Son. £2328 £2322 £2171 £1984 TN&J Hall. £2298 £2099 WJ&AS Bowes & Sons. £2292 £2185 £2101 £1970 JH&M&NW Brown. £2036 £1934 £1831 GK KN & GJ Hird. £1935 £1891 JR Knox & Son. £1872 C&M Atkinson & Sons. £1865 TF Bothroyd & Son.
Friesian Bulls – Top prices ppk 228 219 GW Dobson & Son.
Lead Grossing Friesian Bulls £1630 £1641 GW Dobson & Son.
Native Bulls – Top prices ppk 247 244 234 227 C&M Atkinson & Sons.
Lead Grossing Native Bulls £1771 £1768 £1677 £1632 C&M Atkinson & Sons.
Clean Cattle (127) – The very best end of the clean beef look a slightly easier trade however the R grade beast remained very good to sell, the heifers all in averaged 300ppk with a small number of steers levelling at 291ppk. Of the seventy cattle selling for at least 300 pence per kilo it was regular selling J V & J A Hodgson of The Grange, Summerhouse who came out on top at 344 pence with an expertly finished 566kg Limousin heifer. The ‘H’ surname vendors dominated the top slots as more Hodgson success was closely followed by both the Hirst’s of Neasham and the Hall’s of Ainstable. Heather Marks of Gilly Flatts produced a brilliant home bred trio to take the top steer spots, a lovely Limousin reaching 228ppk and a brilliant British Blue sold for £1977. An excellent 685kg Limousin heifer from Barker Farming Partnership, Scorton topped the gross values on the day when she sold for £2212, other vendors with quality heifers over £2000 were the regular selling Hodgson’s and Hirst’s along with W Swinbank & Sons, Caldwell. As always below are some of the week’s top pen averages.
R Hirst, Neasham sold 15 heifers to average 325ppk and £1805
T N & J Hall, Ainstable sold 6 heifers to average 319ppk and £1772
H D Marks, Bishopton sold 3 steers to average 317ppk and £1897
J V & J A Hodgson, Summerhouse sold 12 heifers to average 316ppk and £1862
Barker Farming, Scorton sold 12 heifers to average 313ppk and £1807
Steers – Top prices ppk 328 315 310 HD Marks. 305 301 283 261 Askwiths. 304 285 WJ Smith & Partners. 281 W Swinbank & Sons. 275 CA Mottram & Sons. 250 DT&E Whitfield.
Lead Grossing Steers- £1977 £1871 £1843 HD Marks. £1958 W Swinbank. £1833 £1814 £1706 £1492 Askwiths. £1708 £1635 WJ Smith & Partners. £1652 DT&E Whitfield. £1609 CA Mottram & Sons.
Heifers – Top prices ppk 344 343 335 330 327 320 314 JV&JA Hodgson. 340 336×3 335×2 333×2 327 325 324 317 311 309 R Hirst. 337 330 319 311×2 TN&J Hall. 331 W Swinbank & Sons. 330 325×2 323 322 320 312 308×2 Barker Farming Partnership. 328 EW Grieves. 328 HD Marks. 320 314 M&G Chantrell Ltd. 319 PI Harker. 316×2 WA Armstrong. 308 WF Hustwit. 307 K&A Harker. 306 WJ Smith & Partners.
Lead Grossing Heifers- £2212 £1970 £1903 £1868 £1864 £1846 £1843 £1803 Barker Farming Partnership. £2082 £2056 £1956 £1947 £1907 £1890 £1805 £1804 £1779 JV&JA Hodgson. £2015 £1929 x2 £1868 £1795 W Swinbank & Sons. £2006 £1954 £1941 £1870 £1822 £1820 £1814 £1813 £1798 £1791 £1787 R Hirst. £1968 £1914 £1892 £1858 JA Gilson Agriculture. £1937 £1806 £1805 TN&J Hall. £1873 £1823 £1790 £1775 WA Armstrong. £1856 EW Grieves. £1835 x2 £1818 WF Hustwit. £1811 CA Mottram & Sons. £1795 PI Harker.
Prime Lambs (1116) – Storm Ciaran battered the region and dreadful conditions decimated the expected lamb numbers today, those able to brave the floods were well rewarded as all classes took a significant lift on the week to a weighed straight sale average of 264ppk with an SQQ of 267ppk. Top per kilo at 333 pence were a quality quartet of 42kg Beltex lambs from our youngest vendors the Davies sisters of Houghton Grange. A fantastic run of fed lambs from AWSM Farms followed closely behind at 317ppk with scores of the better fed and better-bred lambs regularly either side of 300 pence. At 72kg it was a humdinger of a Hampshire that topped the gross values from C W Jackson, Woodend Farm, Etherley Bank whilst the other lambs over £150 were Charollais from P D Shepherd, Aberfield’s from M & A Gaskin plus Texel’s from both G C & J C Pullan and T H Richardson & Son.
Lambs – Top prices ppk 333 S&S Davies. 317 286 277 276 271 270 AWSM Farms. 304 291 288 HT Davies & Partners. 304 276 TH Richardson & Son. 302 I&A Holmes. 302 JA&A Herbert. 300 Beckwith. 295 PJ Tindale. 292 281 PD Shepherd Farm. 291 271 F&JS Gargett. 284 274 M&A Gaskin. 282 275 JK Gill & Son. 282 279 272 PR&V Barlow & Son. 281 JD Brannen. 281 277 275 GF Whitfield. 278 CM Cameron. 277 272 MW&M Skidmore. 276 271 AS&G Donaldson. 275 S Thompson & Son.
Lead Grossing Lambs £159 CW Jackson. £155 £146 £143 £130 PD Shepherd Farm. £151 £131 M&A Gaskin. £151 £134 £132 £131.50 GC&JC Pullan. £150 £140 £132.50 £127 TH Richardson & Son. £144 £129 JK Gill & Son. £143 HT Davies & Partners. £141 £130 L Wilkinson. £140 S&S Davies. £136 JA&A Herbert. £136 £132 GD&AF Adamson. £135 JD Brannen. £134 £130 F&JS Gargett. £134×2 £132 £130×2 £127 AWSM Farms. £133 PJ Tindale. £131.50 J Norman. £131 PR&V Barlow & Son.
Cast Ewes & Rams (360) – A better show of quality met a sharper trade as the ewes averaged £87 and the tups a tremendous £119. A pair of good Beltex tups from L Wilkinson, Rushyford topped the sale at £164 with the top ewe a tidy Texel from William Tindale, Shadforth at £140. Plenty of the fit (not fat) lowland breed ewes sold £110 plus whilst a faster trade for all other classes saw eight Kerry Hill tups sell for £108 and in the ewes Cheviots sold to £96, Mules to £89 and Swaledale’s to £54.
Lead Grossing Cast Sheep £164 L Wilkinson. £140 £110 £89.50 W Tindale. £133 £120 £105 £90 J Norman. £130×3 £120×2 £116 £105 £102 £100 £94 £90 A Tindale. £128.50 £124 M&A Gaskin. £128 PD Shepherd Farm. £124 £96×2 £94 CH&MC Phalp. £120 £107 £100 £94 IR Appleton. £110 GD&AF Adamson. £108 Pear Tree Projects. £106 G Thompson & Sons. £97 Allison Devereux. £90 JP&R Ward.
Prime Pigs (7) – Not for the first time, this pig report has absolutely nothing to do with the pig trade. Due to the general nincompoopery incorporated in this section it seems like the perfect place to ask our dedicated pig report readers if they would please take the time to wish our yard foreman Will Burton a happy 40th Birthday tomorrow, thanks in advance, to all three of you.
Pigs – top prices ppk 200 160 J Mitchell & Son.
Lead Grossing Pigs £156 £126 J Mitchell & Son.
