Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of prime stock on Thursday 22nd February 2024. Forward were 153 cattle and 2087 sheep.
67 Prime Bulls sold to 335ppk or £2930
17 Prime Steers sold to 332ppk or £1921
69 Prime Heifers sold to 350ppk or £2208
1905 Prime Hoggs sold to 421ppk or £200
182 Cast Ewes & Rams sold to £260
Prime Bulls (67) – A two tier show this week with some thumping bulls up at the top somewhat levelled out by an increased offering of dairy and first crossed dairy breeds further down the pecking order, trade continued in excellent fashion for all classes as the whole sale averaged 273ppk and £1885 per head. With the Calcutta cup imminent it could well be a close affair if today’s bull sale is anything of an omen; the English ran away with the leading prices per kilo, none more so than a superb 732kg Limousin from C Harle & Sons, Brandon Hall selling at 335 pence with T W Clark & Son, Frankland Farm and A C Simpson & Son, McNeil Farm in close attendance at 320ppk and 319ppk respectively. The top four gross valued bulls each sold over £2500, the leader at £2930 was a tremendous 1043kg Charolais from A S Hardman Ltd, Grove Farm, Buckinghamshire; behind him a super Limousin from J E Jordon & Son, Morpeth sold for £2874 followed by two terrific Simmental’s out of Scotland as J Wightman of Falkirk sold to £2694 and our first ever vendor off Shetland Messrs S Ridland of Bixter sold at £2566. More success for the cross-border bulls in the native breed line up as an excellent Aberdeen Angus from R & C Rettie, Falkirk impressed selling for 289ppk and £2346. Top of the dairy breeds was a fabulous Fleckvieh from G W Dobson & Son, Wood Close Farm when he sold for 247ppk and £1995, best of the Holstein Friesian bulls came from R Hall & Son, Kilton Hall at 243ppk and also J M & S Walton, Brettanby Farm at £1734. Below are some of the day’s top pen averages.
C Harle & Sons, Brandon Village sold 4 to average 311ppk and £2277
L S Staley, Marwood sold 2 to average 307ppk and £2255
A C Simpson & Son, Witton-le-Wear sold 3 to average 304ppk and £2188
L R Welsh & Co, Spennymoor sold 4 to average 291ppk and £2182
D Richardson & Co, Melsonby sold 5 to average 289ppk and £2334
Continental Bulls – Top prices ppk 335 310 305 295 C Harle & Sons. 320 277 271 TW Clark & Son. 319 309 281 AC Simpson & Son. 309 JJ Horn. 308 306 284 280 273 D Richardson & Co Ltd. 308 306 LS Staley. 308 290×2 279 LR Welsh & Co. 287 280×2 278 277×2 276 274×3 270 IMC Farming. 281 JE Jordon & Son. 281 AS Harman Ltd. 277 RM Adam & Son. 273 R Hall & Son. 270 W Henderson & Son. 269 S Ridland.
Lead Grossing Continental Bulls £2930 AS Harman Ltd. £2874 JE Jordon & Son. £2694 J Wightman. £2566 S Ridland. £2481 RM Adam & Son. £2452 £2281 £2244 £2129 C Harle & Son. £2422 £2418 £1725 AC Simpson & Son. £2402 £2391 £2347 £2301 £2232 D Richardson & Co Ltd. £2328 £2232 £2137 £2030 LR Welsh & Co. £2310 £2130 £2113 TW Clark & Son. £2297 £2212 LS Staley. £2209 JJ Horn. £1862 IMC Farming. £1822 W Henderson & Son.
Friesian Bulls – Top prices ppk 243 239 236 235 232 231 228 JM&S Walton. 243 238 R Hall & Son. 234 GW Dobson & Son. 230 228 219 CS Robinson.
Lead Grossing Friesian Bulls £1734 £1603 £1475 £1429 £1427 £1400 £1257 JM&S Walton. £1494 £1375 R Hall & Son. £1462 GW Dobson & Son. £1383 £1380 £1327 CS Robinson.
Native Bulls – Top prices ppk 289 R&C Rettie. 261 260 W&R Kemp & Son. 240 JA&A Herbert.
Lead Grossing Native Bulls £2346 R&C Rettie. £1670 £1385 W&R Kemp & Son. £1531 JA&A Herbert.
Clean Cattle (86) – Numbers short of buyer requirement, no let up in trade as the price remains firm with steers averaging 298ppk and heifers 317ppk. Top per kilo at 350 pence was an excellent Limousin heifer from Brian Walker, Birch Springs; the super sort was bought in the DfAM store ring one year ago from Richard Greenbank, Roecliffe, York. The pick of this week’s outstanding run from J V & J A Hodgson, The Grange followed close behind at 349ppk with a further eleven heifers also selling in the 340’s. Top steer per kilo came from Richmond based W J Smith & Partners, Belle Isle when the handy weighted Limousin sold for 332 pence; closest behind in the steers per kilo and each in the 320’s were the Chantrell’s of Leicestershire and the Askwith’s of Crook. The top fifteen heifers all sold over £2000, the top two at £2208 and £2154 both hailed from the consistent J V & J A Hodgson whilst sitting in tied third place at £2151 were J E Jordon & Son, Longhirst and J E Suddes & Son, Rowley Farm. Top gross valued steer this week at £1921 went to R O Gilson, Old Park Hall Farm, Byers Green. Below as always are some of the days top pen averages.
Heifers
B Walker, Dalton-on-Tees sold 3 to average 345ppk and £1988
W J Smith & Partners, Richmond sold 3 to average 343ppk and £1836
M & G Chantrell Ltd, Leicestershire sold 8 to average 326ppk and £1611
J E Jordon & Son, Morpeth sold 3 to average 325ppk and £2081
J V & J A Hodgson, Summerhouse sold 12 to average 325ppk and £2015
J E Suddes & Son, Cornsay Colliery sold 3 to average 322ppk and £2023
K & A Harker, Worsall sold 2 to average 321ppk and £1952
R Hirst, Neasham sold 10 to average 321ppk and £1836
Steers
M & G Chantrell Ltd, Leicestershire sold 7 to average 310ppk and £1773
Askwiths, Crook sold 2 to average 301ppk and £1882
Steers – Top prices ppk 332 WJ Smith & Partners. 325 318 315 314 305 300 296 M&G Chantrell Ltd. 320 285 Askwiths. 306 289 279 278 RO Gilson. 291 JE Suddes & Son. 272 JK&CE Farming.
Lead Grossing Steers £1921 £1852 £1821 £1812 RO Gilson. £1920 £1843 Askwiths. £1894 £1859 £1857 £1796 £1716 M&G Chantrell Ltd. £1833 JE Suddes & Son. £1812 WJ Smith & Partners. £1738 JK&CE Farming.
Heifers – Top prices ppk 350 346 341 B Walker. 349 343×2 331 326 325 324 323 322 315 JV&JA Hodgson. 346 345 340 WJ Smith & Partners. 344×2 343×2 330 328 x2M&G Chantrell Ltd. 340 324 312 PJ&MP Gilhespy. M338 328 326×2 325 321 318 316 R Hirst. 335 328 315 JE Jordon & Son. 334 P Weightman & Sons. 333 K&A Harker. 329 324 TW Clark & Son. 329 317 WJ&AS Bowes & Sons. 327 324 317 JE Suddes & Son. 325 316 Askwiths.
Lead Grossing Heifers £2208 £2154 £2086 £2038 £2025 £2016 £2014 £2002 £1986 £1982 £1913 JV&JA Hodgson. £2151 £2123 £1968 JE Jordon & Son. £2151 £1962 £1955 JE Suddes & Son. £2127 £1961 £1876 B Walker. £2040 £1984 £1926 £1901 £1892 R Hirst. £2021 £1969 TW Clark & Son. £2003 £1931 £1871 £1866 PJ&MP Gilhespy. £1991 £1912 K&A Harker. £1991 £1960 WJ&AS Bowes & Sons. £1932 W Henderson. £1881 P Weightman & Sons.
Prime Hoggs (1905) – Numbers continue in consistent fashion and keep us well ahead of last year’s running total at this stage, more are needed over the coming weeks but the reality is that the amount of hoggs in our region is now depleting quickly as the excellent trade is tempting them off winter keep early. All hoggs penned and drawn drama free and then sold comfortably inside two hours; the only queue to mention in DfAM therefore is the SQQ average which was an excellent 346ppk. Less weight than in previous week’s saw the weighed straight sale average £151.32 (333ppk), whilst that could look similar on paper in reality, they are easily up £5 to £8 per head as well over half of the show today weighed under 45kg. Top per kilo at 421 pence were a fine pair of Beltex lambs from William Tindale, Shadforth; other vendors in the exclusive 400 pence club were B G Dale, Newsham Grange and Ainsty Farms Direct, Green Hammerton. Top price per head went to the super consistent A C Simpson & Son, McNeil Farm with a brilliant 62kg Texel hogg reaching £200. Heavy hoggs from A & R Breeze of Manfield followed next at £192 with the aforementioned two vendors of heavy hoggs joined in the £180’s by W Denham, Dent Gate and also J S Simpson, Cockfield; heaps more followed in the £170’s as the remarkable trade for big weights saw the 271 hoggs over 52kg average a brilliant £167.24 per head. Great runs of sheep from Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire and all the way up through Yorkshire in to County Durham and Northumberland enjoyed another great day; away from the mainstream breeds trade saw Cheviots to £159, Zwartbles to £154, Mule’s to £152 and Swaledale’s to £120. A selected few of the leading runs are listed below.
W Tindale, Shadforth sold 3 to average 401ppk
J D Brannen, Toronto sold 12 to average 369ppk
AWSM Farms, Richmond sold 50 to average 367ppk
R Atkinson, Scorton sold 145 to average 362ppk
R Errington, Brignall sold 20 to average 356ppk
A & R Breeze, Manfield sold 6 to average £180
A C Simpson & Son, Witton-le-Wear sold 41 to average £173
J & A Layfield, Hamsterley sold 50 to average £173
A Crowder, Butsfield sold 44 to average £169
P S Marsden & Son, Lincs sold 75 to average £168
D & P H Brown, Aldbrough-St-John sold 14 to average £165
Hoggs – Top prices ppk 421 W Tindale. 410 BG Dale. 402 392 Ainsty Farms Direct. 392 387 368 JD Brannen. 384 DM McClurg. 381 379 373 370 368 364 362 354 R Atkinson. 380 372 368 360 PJ Tindale. 376 375 AWSM Farms. 372 371 368 364 H Haywood & Son Ltd. 367 R Wood & Son. 363 JK&CE Farming. 363 JS Simpson. 360 D&PH Brown. 360 358 Whittington. 360 R Errington & Son. 360 RA&BA Ridley & Son Ltd. 359 356 J&A Layfield. 358 D&B Harding. 355 A&R Breeze. 355 GP&A Carter.
Lead Grossing Hoggs £200 £182 £180 £177 £176 £174×3 £172×2 £170×4 AC Simpson & Son. £192 £180 £178 A&R Breeze. £184 £183 £174 £170 W Denham. £180 £169 JS Simpson. £179 £175 £174 £172 £170 PS Marsden & Son. £178 £177×2 £172×2 £171 £170 £169 J&A Layfield. £175 £170 RH Thompson & Son. £175 JR Knox & Son. £173 WL Robinson & Partners. £172 R Atkinson. £172 £170×2 £168 A Crowder. £170 TH Richardson & Son. £170 D&PH Brown. £169 D&B Harding. £168 RE&L Frank. £168 Ainsty Farms Direct.
Cast Ewes & Rams (182) – Numbers tight and trade absolutely superb, the ewes averaged £121.14 and the tups a pleasing £140.08. Top of the day at £260 were a great pair of Texel ewes from W Ramsay & Sons, Blakely Hill; the same good home also topped the tups at £238. W Denham of Dent Gate was next in line as he sold a trio of continental ewes at £238 whilst the Mule ewes were motoring again to average over £100 with a best of £127.
Lead Grossing Cast Sheep £260 £238 £176 £125 W Ramsay & Sons. £232 £146 W Denham. £195 £193 £175 £170 Anna Herbert. £192 £166 D&PH Brown. £188 £148 £134 Tallentire. £186 £166 £148 £138 WL Robinson & Partners. £186 £168 £149 N&LL Brown & Son. £180 £150 W Tindale. £180 P Tindale. £178 £148 £134 C Harle & Sons. £176 £138×2 A&PA Jopling. £172 TW Brown & Sons. £170 JC Johnson. £160 Duell Partners. £156 PS Marsden & Son. £147 CA&J Kipling. £140 JR Knox & Son.
